First Year
by zookie33
Summary: Their First Year at Hogwarts is tricky- filled with rivalry, new friends and unexpected turns. The Next Generation takes Hogwarts!
1. The First Meeting

_A.N.: 18/08/14 Hi all. I have decided to edit this story since I wrote it years and years ago and, let's face it, my grammar and spelling were not that great. So I shall be going through chapters and adding, changing or removing anything that I feel needs to be added, changed or removed. Thanks._

Rose Weasley gave a final wave to her parents and set off down the rattling corridor of the Hogwarts Express. Her trunk, filled with all her new school books, was heavy, and coupled with her yowling cat, christened Spider by her younger brother Hugo, having a hissing fit in his cage, she was having a bit of trouble. Pushing her flaming red curls out of her eyes she spoke to the boy in front of her. "Hey James, could you-"  
>"Sorry Rose, gotta go! C'mon Albus!" And with that, James Potter raced away down the train hallway, his little brother Albus huffing and puffing in tow, as he too dragged a new trunk. Rose scowled after them.<p>

"_Boys_." She growled. She struggled with her trunk down the train corridor, but everywhere was already full. Finally, just when Spider's crying was reaching a crescendo, she spotted a remarkably empty compartment. Rose whooped under her breath and struggled towards it. Once inside she heaved her trunk in after her and shut the door, and, after a struggle, hauled the heavy case into the hangar above her seat.

Relieved, Rose finally collapsed onto the seat and started fiddling with the clasps on Spider's cage, but before she could free him she startled and sat up straight again, because sitting opposite her was a boy already changed into his billowing black school robes, like her. He was tall, for an eleven year old, and had a pale face and straight, white-blond hair. His eyes were very light grey-blue and he was smirking slightly as he lounged across the seat in front of her, apparently amused at her struggles. She blushed, feeling her cheeks warm, and stood up abruptly and said "I-I'm sorry, I didn't realise you were here, I was just- I-… um… I'll be going now."  
>His eyes were glittering with amusement as she turned and started trying to lift her trunk down from the hangar overhead.<br>"You're a Weasley right?" a voice said. It was slightly drawling, with a hint of amusement colouring the tones. Rose found that it was pleasant to listen to. She turned her head and glared at him over her shoulder. "You're Scorpius Malfoy, correct? My dad told me to stay away from you." Her arms were still above her head, but they weren't trying to lift her trunk down, they were just resting on the hangar. "And yes, I'm a Weasley." There were neat fields outside the window now, with sheep and cows.  
>Scorpius inclined his head. "Rose." She was startled that he knew her name. "My dad told me to stay away from you too."<br>"Oh, then, in that case-" Rose was about to try and lift her trunk down again, but Scorpius just laughed.  
>"I'm always disobeying my father, I don't mind if you stay here." He lay down on the seat, bending his legs at the knees so his feet were flat on the cushions and pillowing his head on his arm. "And let your cat out, it's going to have an epileptic fit soon."<br>He was right; Spider was bashing the cage and hissing in competition to the train. Rose sat down again and sighed, though inwardly she was intrigued as to how he knew what an epileptic fit was. She shushed Spider and undid the clasp on the cage. Finally, the dusty grey cat bounded out of its cage and landed lightly on the floor in front of Scorpius's trailing cloak, his fluffy fur shaking as he quivered with energy. He quickly bounded around the compartment, jumping from seat to seat to the hangar and back a few times before landing back on the floor and sniffing Scorpius' cloak, sneezing and then leaping onto Rose's lap. He turned in a circle and closed his green eyes.  
>"I though he would've scratched you or <em>something<em>." Scorpius sounded disappointed. Rose scowled at him again, and stroked Spider as the cat purred.  
>"He's actually a real sweetie once he calms down, he just doesn't like cages. The only person he doesn't like is dad, so dad was happy I took him to Hogwarts with me this year." She stroked him again, and he purred.<p>

"Mmm." Scorpius didn't seem interested in the subject anymore. Rose felt a little embarrassed. Was she really that boring?

"Where are those two boys you were with? At the platform?" He asked suddenly. Her eyebrows went up again. How much does he notice?

"James went to find his friends, because he's in his second year, and took Albus with him. They abandoned me." She huffed a bit at the thought of her cousins. Scorpius's eyes slid towards her from where they had been gazing out the window.

"How mean of them." He smirked. "What house is James in?" The teasing smile slid off his face and he sounded genuinely interested "And are they the Potter boys?"  
>"He's in Gryffindor. And yeah, they're the Potters. Why do you ask?" Rose said, though she felt she knew the answer.<br>"My dad said to definitely stay away from the Potters." Scorpius chuckled, and Rose drank the sound in. He sat up and grinned, showing her a set of straight, white teeth. "But maybe I'll defy him again. You never know. Hey," His eyes drifted to her bag. "What kind of wand do you have? And what house do you want to be sorted into?"  
>Rose, undeterred by the sudden topic change, got out her wand. It was a light brown, long and straight. "Fir, dragon-heartstring, ten inches. Nice and swishy and good for Transfiguration. What's yours?" She said<br>"Cypress, unicorn tail hair, twelve inches. Supple, good for... um, I can't remember, maybe Charms or something." He grinned. "Ollivanders?"  
>"Of course,"<br>"Me too."  
>"I figured." It was her turn to smirk. "And as for before, I don't really know what house I want to be sorted into. I suppose Gryffindor, because my dad said he'd disinherit me if I didn't get sorted in there." Scorpius laughed and Rose blushed. She hated people laughing at anything to do with her if it wasn't a joke. "But Ravenclaw would be alright too, I guess. What about you?"<br>"Um, I dunno, Slytherin I suppose... Y'know uphold the family tradition and ra ra ra." He shrugged.  
>"Oh yeah." Rose said, and put her head down. She was pretty sure it was unheard of for a person who wants to be a Gryffindor and a person who wants to be a Slytherin to share a compartment. Well, without bloodshed. But she knew how he felt.<br>All of a sudden the lunch trolley rattled past. "Anything from the trolley, guys?" The young man pushing the trolley was smiling broadly at them. Scorpius practically leapt to his feet right away and bought about half the trolley, grinning manically the whole time. '_Boys,_' Rose thought for the second time that day, and rolled her eyes as he came back with an arms full. She got up to buy her own food but Scorpius nudged her back down with his foot.

"I bought some for you." he said. He flourished his arms at the pile of food he had tipped on the seat beside him. She smiled shyly and thanked him, surprised and flattered all at once. He offered her a Pumpkin Pasty and she accepted.  
>"A toast," he said a little while later, and broke the chocolate frog he had just opened (and caught, as it tried to jump away) in half. "For a Gryffindor and a Slytherin, if we get into our houses, to <em>not<em> hate each other." And he smiled warmly and offered her one of the halves. She beamed in return and bit into the chocolate.  
>Maybe this year at Hogwarts would be all right.<p> 


	2. The Sorting

As the train came to a halt at Hogsmeade Station, Rose Weasley brushed the last few crumbs of confectionary from her grey skirt and pulled her coal-black robe more closely around her. Scorpius Malfoy stood up too, and Rose frowned as she saw he was taller than her. She was taller than all the boys her age, and she didn't like change that much.  
>She had hustled Spider back into his cage a little while before, much to his protest, and they shuffled out into the busy corridor. Scorpius followed and tightened his cloak as the cold air bit into his skin. They both hobbled out into the station, and Rose watched in slight intrigue as she saw all the different people walk past. There were Gryffindors already with their House ties around their heads running around, hooting and yelling and being generally annoying to everyone in the vicinity. There were Slytherins tying their ties into bows around their necks and adjusting their jumpers so the dark fabric hugged their figures so they looked good. There were also the Hufflepuffs who jovially walked by talking animatedly to their colleagues. The Ravenclaw residents were, frankly, Rose thought, a little nerdy, with most of them with their noses buried in books while they walked, or with their wands out, already practicing spells for the new term. Rose was eager, but not even she was <em>that<em> eager.  
>"Rosie!" She heard, and she saw James and Albus approaching. Feeling guilty as soon as she made a move, she shuffled away from Scorpius and then turned her back on him. She waved at James and Albus and quickly grouped with them. She saw Scorpius casting a surprised look at her, but she hastily set off (whilst waving goodbye to James) towards the giant silhouette who was calling out for the First Years.<br>Professor Hagrid was _huge_. Rose had met him a couple of times before when he had visited her parents and uncle, but at Hogwarts, amongst the sea of nervous eleven year olds, he was a whale of a man. She felt Albus draw unconsciously nearer to her only just stopping himself from grabbing her hand, and Scorpius cast an almost terrified look at Professor Hagrid's thigh, which was as high up as his eyes could see when they were staring straight ahead.  
>"How're you, Rosie, Al?" Professor Hagrid asked as she and Albus pushed their way to the front of the crowd. The other First Years glanced, awe-struck, at them at the fact that they knew this giant.<p>

"I'm good, Hagrid." Rose answered, being polite as always.

"I'm a little cold, but, you know," Albus shrugged, trying to look casual as he shot terrified looks everywhere.

"Well, we can fix that!" Professor Hagrid boomed and beamed as he slipped off a very tattered and ripped moleskin overcoat and dumped it on Albus's narrow shoulders. The rest of the year laughed, and Albus looked mortified but Rose knew he was too polite to say anything but a quiet'thank you'.  
>"Ev'ryone here? Good! Now we can head off, ev'ryone stick together!" Professor Hagrid ordered, and then he walked off down the gravelly path with the First Years hurrying to keep up in his wake.<br>As they arrived at the Black Lake, Albus did actually grab Rose's hand (after he had pushed up the sleeves of the coat that he was practically swimming in), and she was grateful. Rose was terrified as they drew closer to her new school, and she kept thinking about the Houses, and the spells and the theories she would have to learn. And the people. Rose wasn't the best people-person, and belonging to a whole House full of strangers was petrifying. In her head she kept going through all the possibilities of how she could let them down, or losing House points, or other scenarios. Most of all, she felt like she didn't belong. She liked Quidditch more than studying, so Ravenclaw was a low probability. She didn't think she could be grouped with the Slytherins, and she didn't think she would be happy enough in Hufflepuff. But the Gryffindor's looked like a bunch of ecstatic imbeciles! They were running around flapping their arms and hooting like idiots! Rose felt she didn't belong anywhere, but she was secretly happy as she thought the Sorting Hat would find her a place among the mess.  
>Professor Hagrid told them to hop in one of the four-seater boats that lined the pebbly shore and then strolled to his own, slightly bigger boat. Rose quickly rushed Albus to the boat closest to Hagrid, and made sure he was in and seated comfortably. Then she turned and saw Scorpius a little apart from the crowd of eager First Years. She waved with her hands to get his attention and gestured to the boat she was in, whilst making sure Al was looking at the lake. Scorpius strode over with a look of relief and took a seat. Rose hopped in next to Albus, and later they were joined by another girl with pretty dark skin her hair all drawn back in long dark braids.<p>

"All in, are yeh?" Hagrid called. There was a chorus of high-pitched agreements, and then they were sailing across the Black Lake.  
>Rose leaned over the side of the boat and stared at the inky water as Albus started talking with Scorpius and the new girl. She kept thinking she saw faces other than her own reflection and giant tentacles beneath the black surface but she rationalised with herself and told her imagination that the merpeople wouldn't come to visit a bunch of First-Years. She felt Albus squeeze her hand as Scorpius introduced himself and she looked up and joined the conversation, glimpsing that Albus' green eyes were not open wide in fear, but in fascination. For once.<br>The new girl was Verity Thomas, and Rose smiled and said their fathers knew each other. She had heard her dad speak of how funny friends Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan had been many a time. "Yeah," Verity agreed. "They've told me about all your parents." And she even smiled at Scorpius, even though Rose thought it looked sort of like a sad smile. "My pop even dated your mum once," She giggled at that, her tawny eyes crinkling in the corners. "He said your dad stole her away from him." She raised a teasingly accusing finger at Albus. Big mistake.  
>Albus Severus Potter was a scaredy-cat. That's all there is too it. With his green eyes and dark hair, he looked adorable, but, in truth, he was the biggest wimp Rose Weasley had ever known. And she meant that in the nicest of ways. He never understood his brother's sarcasm and always flinched when Uncle Harry jokingly threatened to throw him out of the house if he didn't make the Quidditch team on his first year. So when Verity Thomas accused him of lost love, he practically wet himself. Before he could though, Rose leaned in and whispered in his ear.<br>"That was sarcasm, Al. And we're here." So instead of crying his apologies to Verity and Dean Thomas, he smiled and gave a breathy laugh, tossing his hair out of his eyes and turned to look around as the boat stopped.  
>They ended up walking a short way to the castle, with Scorpius and Rose taking the lead and Verity and Albus following them. They were too awe-struck to speak as they approached the giant castle, with every window ablaze and they could already hear the chatter of a thousand students in the Great Hall. Rose remembered what her mother had told her of the Great Hall. The ceiling was enchanted to look like the sky outside, and there were four House tables. House-elves sent the food up from identical tables in the kitchens below, and, she remembered her father adding on, the food's always amazing.<br>She heard Scorpius moan beside her. "What?" She asked, widening her brown eyes in concern. He just grimaced at her.  
>"I'm so hungry." He answered, putting a hand on his stomach. She huffed and blew her hair off her forehead. <em>Boys were hungry all the time<em>, she thought.

To prove her point, Albus chirped from behind her, "I know, right? I'm going to starve to death if we don't get started soon!"

Scorpius clapped a hand to Albus' shoulder and groaned, "Tell me about it, dude."

_At least Al has made a friend before the Sorting had even started,_ Rose thought. She had had this insane idea that Albus wouldn't make many friends at Hogwarts because he was too shy. Being told he would grow up to make his father proud his whole life had made Albus shrink into his shell a little. Looking so much like the great Harry Potter had made everyone expect Albus to be exactly like him. They expected him to make the Quidditch team, top Defence Against the Dark Arts, be in Gryffindor. It was all too much for Albus sometimes, but now he and Scorpius were friends it might be a little better for him at school.  
>Rose was still looking at Scorpius when he caught her eye and grinned. She smiled back and was going to ask him a question when Albus seized her hand, all friendliness forgotten, as the big oak front doors opened after Hagrid knocked three times. She whirled around and got her first look at Neville Longbottom as a professor. She saw Albus give a relieved smile to Neville and then smiled at him herself. Neville was a close friend of her parents, and she felt comfortable around him. She was glad he was looking after the First Years and not some other professor.<br>"Hello everyone!" Neville-or Professor Longbottom, Rose decided she should call him while she was at school- called out.

The First Years stopped their nervous chatter and Scorpius lent into Rose and whispered, "Is that Neville Longbottom?" into Rose's ear. His breath tickled and she only just stopped herself from jerking away from him. She nodded in assent and he chuckled. "Dad said he was made a professor. He's not very spectacular looking for someone who helped vanquish You-Know-Who, now, is he?" Rose abruptly smacked him across the chest with the hand not clasped in Albus' before she realised he was joking, but he just wheezed laughter as Albus shot her a filthy look.  
>"Thanks, Hagrid." Professor Longbottom addressed the half-giant as Hagrid walked inside, humming a drinking song. "Welcome to Hogwarts, First Years! Be on the lookout for Peeves as you kindly step this way, and, could you please," Professor Longbottom wiped his nose anxiously, a habit Rose knew he got from old plant allergies even though he took anti-allergenic potions "Stick together and come into this room here."<br>The anti-chamber was much smaller that the Entrance Hall but, as all the First Years clumped together out of nerves and anxiety, it was much more comforting. They waited cautiously, expecting Peeves, the infamous poltergeist, to swoop down on them any second, for Professor Longbottom to come back. Rose's brow was furrowed and Albus was clinging to her arm with his chin on her shoulder chewing his lip. In contrast to them, Scorpius Malfoy was laid-back and cool; collected enough to make attempted small talk with Rose, but realising it was more enriching to talk to Verity, who also seemed relaxed.  
>When Professor Longbottom came back, he ordered them into a single line. Rose was separated from Albus by Verity, which was bad because she was terrified. And if Rose was terrified, than Albus must have been scared stiff. Rose was behind Scorpius, though, and Verity was patting her back telling her not to be so scared. She felt a twinge of guilt for not being next to Albus, but he was going to be fine. He'd have to be fine, if he got sorted into another House.<br>Professor Longbottom hustled them back out into the Entrance Hall, and told them to stay in line and prepare themselves. He walked down the line, comforting those who looked scared and smiling reassuringly. When he got to Rose he said, "Chin up, Weasley." Rose smiled timidly at him, knowing he was teasing her. He always called her dad by his last name when they had a tiff.

When he got to Albus he sighed and ruffled Albus's hair. "You look so much like your father, you know." He said wistfully. Rose knew Uncle Harry and Professor Longbottom had been close friends, but Albus would hate this. Albus didn't need extra pressure right now, but Professor Longbottom seemed to think he was offering him assurance, not scaring him. "I just know you'll be a great Gryffindor, just like Harry Potter. Just like him. You'll be fine, Al." Professor Longbottom smiled at Albus again and then kept walking down the line. Albus was now a slight shade of green and was sweating. Rose wished she was beside him to take his hand, because, whilst she was scared, she knew Albus would benefit more from the comfort. Verity saw Rose looking at her cousin and smiled at her.  
>"I'll look after him," she said to Rose. Rose was shocked. She hadn't known Verity more than an hour and a half, yet she was already reassuring Rose that her cousin would be fine with her. But Rose was thankful. Albus didn't need another reminder of his family right now.<br>When she turned to face the front again, Scorpius was looking at her over his shoulder. His eyes were mocking, and he said, "Scared, Weasley?"

Inwardly, Rose groaned. Now was not the time for taunts. But all she said back was, "You wish, Malfoy." And shoved him playfully in the shoulder. He was about to respond when the doors opened, and he quickly turned round to face the front, back straight, his rigid posture the only sign of his own nerves. The Great Hall was filled to the hilt with students and, forgetting her ruse of toughness, Rose grabbed Scorpius by the elbow as the First Years started walking single file into the Hall.  
>She clung to him tightly as they walked down the marble floor that separated the tables. She could feel him laughing at her, but she was too terrified of the Sorting to respond in any way except to hug his arm closer.<br>As they passed the Gryffindor table, she tried to catch James's eye, but he was too immersed in whispering to the boy next to him to see. But, seeing as it was James Potter and he can't whisper to save his life, as she walked past she clearly heard, "I bet you he's going to be in Gryffindor. Dad always said he was going to be just like him at Hogwarts."

Rose glanced around to Albus, and she knew he had heard his brother, too, when he stiffened and went from pale green to sickly grey. But then, when she knew he thought no one was watching, his eyes flashed with an emotion she had only ever seen on his face a few times before. She knew he was thinking something outrageous by that look, but she didn't know what. What could he possibly do that would make him stand out anymore? It wasn't like he could rig the Sorting or anything.  
>All thoughts was lost when the first years arrived up the front, facing a three-legged stool. When they were all crowded tightly together in a nervous clump, Professor Longbottom explained about what it meant to belong to a House, but Rose wasn't paying attention. She was too busy hugging the only person she knew that was close to her tighter. Scorpius was still laughing at her nervousness, but she couldn't find the effort to care. All her attention was focused on being worried and anxious and wondering what House she was going to be in. She didn't even see the members of staff up at the head table, or the plaque hanging behind them that held the record of all the names of those who had perished at the Battle of Hogwarts all those years ago. She knew almost all the names written on the gold anyway. Her parents had known almost all of them.<br>"Alferdale, Vanessa!" called Professor Longbottom, jolting Rose out of her worried mind. Rose hadn't even been aware the Sorting had started, and pouted when she realised she had missed the Sorting Hat's song.

A plain girl with blonde ringlets tied up in a ponytail trotted nervously up to the Hat and promptly dumped it on her head. Professor Longbottom had smiled with amusement when she had snatched it out of his hands, because he knew she hadn't done it out of rudeness but from nerves. Not even ten seconds had passed when the Hat called "Slytherin!" Vanessa Alferdale visibly sighed in relief, whether because she had wanted SLytherin or just because she was chosen, and proceeded to stride over to the table that was cheering the loudest.  
>The Hat chose everyone relatively quickly, and Rose didn't want to let go of Scorpius when Professor Longbottom called him. He had to turn and gently untwine her fingers from his cloak and then, with his head held high, he swiftly sauntered up to the stool. Rose saw Professor Longbottom close his eyes as Scorpius passed him, and wondered why. The students of Hogwarts were murmuring now, and Rose suspected most of them knew about the Malfoy's reputation in the Wizarding World.<br>Scorpius sat there for a while, tapping his foot nervously on the ground. The crowd waited, breathless, but finally, the Sorting Hat opened its maw and shouted "Slytherin!"

Rose was almost disappointed. She had thought that, maybe, Scorpius might have chosen a different house, to be chivalrous. But she had to remind herself that Slytherins themselves weren't bad, just that some of the people in that house had chosen the wrong path and given it a bad reputation. Merlin himself had been a Slytherin.  
>"Potter, Albus Severus!" Professor Longbottom called. She felt Albus walk sure-footedly past her, and then up the steps to the three-legged stool while the crowd cheered for the child of their hero. She wished they wouldn't, and her wince got bigger when Professor Longbottom clapped him warmly on his shoulder as Albus passed him. Rose watched Albus nervously as Professor Lonbottom placed the Hat on his head. It was too big for him but, just before it covered his eyes, Rose saw the same flash of rebellion that she had seen before.<br>They waited. And waited. And waited. For several minutes, Albus sat, undisturbed, beneath the Sorting Hat. Rose saw Professor Longbottom lean in to talk to Hagrid, both of them glancing concernedly at Albus and the Hat. None of the other first years had even come close to taking this aount of time to be Sorted. The Hall began to break out in murmurs, the students whispering to each other, wondering why the Hat was waiting so long to decide. Then, finally, after seven minutes of anxious waiting, the Sorting Hat did something that shocked the whole room. It laughed loudly for everyone to hear, and then the rip near the brim that served as its mouth seemed to smile as it shouted "Slytherin!"

Rose gasped, along with the rest of the school. There was a beat of silence as Albus took the Hat off his head and looked around with eyes that were not brave or rebellious any more- just worried and scared. Then, hesitantly, the Slytherin table slowly started a smattering of applause, and some- not all- of the rest of the school followed suit. Albus gave the Hat back to Professor Longbottom and hastily ran off to the Slytherin table, where he sat down next to Scorpius, who bumped him with his shoulder.  
>Rose felt her stomach sink as she looked around for James and found him, staring, opened mouthed, at Albus. She almost called out to him to stop as James stood, glaring at Albus over the other side of the room, and everyone hushed to see what the first Potter child would do.<p>

As dramatically as only James Potter could, he said clearly so it could be heard across the Hall without him raising his voice, "You're not my brother." And then he stormed out of the Great Hall, and everyone could hear the sounds of the front doors to Hogwarts opening as James Potter stormed out onto the grounds.  
>Rose looked back to Albus and saw him shrink a little in his seat, his eyes wide and glimmering with unshed tears, but Professor Longbottom tried to get everyone's attention back to the Sorting by yelling "Praval, Trissa!" at the crowd. Trissa ran up looking scared, but the Hat sorted her into Ravenclaw quickly enough.<br>"Thomas, Verity!" Professor Longbottom called after a little while. Verity walked up to the Hat looking like the epitome of calm and crossed her legs under the stool while she was being Sorted. After only a few seconds, the Hat shouted "Gryffindor!" and that table clapped and cheered. At least, Rose thought, one person got Sorted into the House they were perfectly suited to.  
>Professor Longbottom cleared his throat meaningfully before yelling Rose's name, almost like a warning, '<em>Please don't make a scene like your cousin<em>'. Rose almost ran to the Hat, wanting it all to be over, and placed it on her head, trying to block out the whispers of '_Did he just say _Weasley_? _The_ Weasleys?_"  
><em>Ahhh... it's been a while since I've sorted a Weasley... <em>something whispered in her ear as the Hat fell over her eyes. She swallowed her nerves and thought logically. Her cousins Molly, Dominique, Fred, Victoire, Roxanne and Lucy had all been at Hogwarts. They were Weasleys. And only Fred and Molly had graduated, so the rest of them were still here. And, in fact, Lucy was only in fourth year, so he only sorted a Weasley three years ago.  
><em>Ha,<em> the voice said, almost sounding proud, _with that logic I should put you in Ravenclaw_. Rose knew her dad would be disappointed, no matter how hard he tried to hide it, if she was to be put in Ravenclaw, so she panicked a little. _Gryffindor, Gryffindor, Gryffindor..._ she thought nervously. The Hat laughed in her ear again.

_Okay_, it said. _I was always one for choices, as little Potter found out before..._ Rose didn't know what to do with that information, she didn't know what it meant. It stunned her a little, so she almost didn't stand when the Hat shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" to the rest of the school. Luckily, she got to her feet almost automatically, but felt a rush of happiness when she realised she could finally belong. She stumbled over to the hooting crowd that were in her House, and saw that her cousin Roxanne was leading the loudest of the cheers. Rose beamed as she slid into the seat next to Verity Thomas, who had made a place for her, and all previous worries were put away in her mind in place of euphoria.

For now at least.


	3. Classes and Christmas

Rose was bored. It was her third week at Hogwarts, and she had already mastered what petty spells her teachers made her learn. They were in Charms class now, writing down the correct way to perform a fanning charm. Rose had already attempted this particular spell, and was quite pleased when the curtains in the Gryffindor Common room had rustled.  
>"Why do the make us <em>do<em> this?" Verity asked from beside her. Verity, like Rose, was mastering her classes with ease. They both dragged their hands across the page sadly and only stopped complaining when the Hufflepuff sitting behind them told them to shut up because, apparently, it wasn't as easy for the rest of the class. Verity huffed and glared over her new red and gold scarf at the Hufflepuff, but sighed in defeat.  
>When Rose had finished copying it down, she started fiddling with her tie. It was red and gold, like a lot of her presents that her parents had sent over, and was already fraying at the bottom because she played with it so much. She started to get hungry and wanted this lesson to end fast, but as soon as she thought that, Professor Mason who taught charms started babbling on again about the incantation. Verity snorted from beside her and played with her braids. The Hufflepuff behind them kicked Rose's chair and she almost turned and cursed him into oblivion. But she didn't, because she was in control and <em>not<em> her father. But, then again, she thought, as the Hufflepuff kicked her chair again, Albus had said that the offspring of Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley was like a new species of dragon. And dragons were destructive.  
>Rose jolted forward again and her chair was bumped, but she grabbed her wand from the table and, checking the teacher wasn't watching, whirled around and practically shoved her wand up the Hufflepuff's nose. "Kick my chair again," Rose growled, Verity letting off a quiet whistle from her seat, "And I will curse you so much your mother won't recognize your pretty face." For good measure she tapped his nose with her wand so sparks flew out, and then she sat down, noticing that the whole class was staring at her, opened-mouthed.<br>Professor Mason didn't notice a thing.

"Hey Al!" Rose smiled when she saw Albus waiting for her beside the doors to the Great Hall. "Eating outside again, are we?" she asked. He nodded shyly, but she just smiled. "Let me just grab some food and I'll be right out." he nodded again and went to wait by the wall. This was the only way to eat with each other without James glaring at them when Al came to the Gryffindor table or Rose sitting uncomfortably with all the Slytherin's who she knew hated her guts. For example, Samuel Nott.  
>It was the second time Rose had quietly slipped onto the seat beside Albus and Scorpius to eat breakfast with them. She had just received a Gryffindor scarf and she was showing it to Albus, who took interest in anything she told him. Just when she was putting it back on, a fork-full of scrambled eggs hit her new scarf and her hand. She stared at the eggs, confused, and then a loud guffaw, followed by most of the table laughing, was heard.<p>

She looked up and saw Samuel Nott with his fork still raised. And then one of his friends, Max Avery, commented, "Nice scarf, Weasley." They were only in second year, but just when she was considering bringing out her wand, Scorpius and Albus both took her arms and steered her up and away from the table.

The next day she only glanced over to the Slytherin table, but she saw Nott and Avery both had matching black eyes. But she couldn't quite fathom what had happened until she saw the bandage around James's hand and his guarded expression as he told her that Quidditch trials were yesterday and that she had missed them.

"Here we go," she said and she settled in Hagrid's pumpkin patch. He always got Professor Longbottom to use a heating charm to keep the plants ready that the ground was at least dry. "Sorry Verity couldn't make it, but she had Transfiguration homework to catch up on. I _told_ her to do it last night, but she wouldn't listen and instead fawned over Brent's new broom." Brent was one of James's friends and always got presents from his parents. Seeing as it was his birthday, he had gotten a new broom, amongst other gifts.

"No, it's okay. Scorpius said he was coming but he lost points from Neville today, so I guess he's moping up in the dorm." Albus replied, keeping up the idle chit-chat. Ever since he had been sorted into Slytherin, Albus had become even more secluded, only talking openly when it was just Rose. And now, it was just Rose.

"Do you…" he started. She knew where it was going but she didn't pressure him. "Do you think James will… be normal soon?" Al asked tentatively. His big green eyes looked sad, and she immediately felt sorry for him. It was hard for him, when his big brother had left him to fend for himself amongst this new world of Hogwarts. Rose had stepped up to the challenged of the older sibling to help him, but, seeing as she hardly knew more than him, it was difficult.

"Oh, Al," she said, shaking her head, "Don't you see? He_ is_ being normal. James always over-reacts. Do you remember that time James got the wrong broom for Christmas. Poor Aunt Ginny almost got her eardrums burst with all his yelling _and_ he didn't talk properly to Uncle Harry until he went and exchanged to broom for the right one." That made Albus smile at her, and she scooted closer to him, looping her arm around his shoulders. "He'll get over it. Everything will be fine, Al." she smiled and he took a bite of his sandwich.

"Hey," someone called from the edge of the pumpkin patch. Rose glanced over and saw Scorpius with a plate full of food. "Sorry I'm late," he smiled weakly and crossed over to them. Al hastily coughed and scrubbed his eyes, but Rose and Scorpius pretended not to notice.

"Where were you?" Rose asked sternly.

"Oh, Vanessa had some questions about the herbology homework." He said casually. She bristled at the mention of Vanessa Alferdale's name, but she had no real evidence that Vanessa hated her. Albus though she was paranoid when Rose _swore_ Vanessa was glaring at her whenever she entered the Great Hall. Apparently Vanessa was really nice, and complaining about her to Vanessa's obvious friend Scorpius would only end in a tiff.

"Ah, um, we were just talking about Quidditch tryouts." Albus blurted out, obviously trying to avoid an argument. Scorpius's eyes gleamed with snarky amusement, but he just looked away from Rose to Al.

"Ah yeah. Did you tell Rose you tried out?" Al sucked in a big breath of air, obviously a plain enough answer for Scorpius. He grimaced. "Whoops, sorry Al." he muttered. Rose looked at Al pointedly, but he just grinned sheepishly at her.

"I was going to tell you. Just… after I'd gotten the results back." He looked flustered, and Rose fought her surprised anger down. It wasn't his fault and he was having a tough time lately. She smiled and murmured congratulations, all the while sulking in her head. Rose and Albus had been inseparable in the years before Hogwarts, but now Al was in Slytherin (and, she faced it, now that Scorpius was here) she felt like the third wheel sometimes. She felt her mouth pull down at the corners and fought to keep it up. She would not be sad, and no fights could seriously happen until James had forgiven Al, at least.

"I forgot my bag in the common room." Rose said suddenly. She didn't know why, but she was feeling very sad by this minor betrayal. "I'll see you later, Al, Scorpius," She nodded to them and picked up her plate and glass, sculling her pumpkin juice on the way back up to the castle.

"Bye Verity, I'll see you in a few weeks." Rose smiled and hugged Verity goodbye. They were in the Entrance Hall with their trunks and pets. Rose was going home for Christmas with Al and James, but Verity was staying at Hogwarts. Verity smiled. "Look for my present under the tree," Rose added.

"I will. Enjoy your holiday, Rose," she said, then moved on and hugged Al goodbye. Rose walked to Scorpius, who was wrapped in a Slytherin scarf and had pink cheeks because of the open doors.

"Bye, Scorpius," She said, and hugged him. He was staying at Hogwarts too. He hadn't told her why, but Al had whispered that it was because his family was visiting Azkaban this year; visiting Scorpius's grandfather these holidays. Apparently Lucius Malfoy was quite the angry man after all his years in prison. Dementors no longer guarded the prison, only the best Aurors and Rose's uncle Harry had been there a few times himself. To Guard or to reconcile, being head of the Auror Office was a challenging task, but Uncle Harry was the best.

Scorpius whispered in her ear while they were hugging; "Don't be mad at Al. He didn't want to disappoint you by getting your hopes up. Just smile and go with it." Then he leant back and smirked at her. "Have a good Christmas, Weasley." She scowled at him but couldn't keep that face. She ended up grinning and walking to where James was waiting for her by the oak front doors.

She made James wait until Albus was there too then they all caught the same carriage down to the train, and joining them in the carriage was Lorcan and Lysander Scamander, who were both in James's year, but in Ravenclaw. It gave James some people to talk to while Al and Rose spoke about what to do on their holiday and what they were going to get for Christmas; Rose still a little frosty towards Al, but was warming quickly because of his terrible jokes and hesitant smiling. By the time they got to the station they were best friends again.

"I'm going to sit with my friends," James grumbled when the boarded the Hogwarts Express. Al shrugged and Rose murmured something about him having fun and he sped off down the corridor. They found a semi-empty compartment and shuffled in. The only person sitting there was a sandy-haired fifth-year boy who was vaguely familiar by Rose couldn't place it.

"Um, can we sit?" Rose asked. The boy looked up at them and smiled, indicating that they could come inside. His ears stuck out a bit and he had a Hufflepuff tie on. Rose tried not to stare too hard at him but he was really familiar and it was annoying her that she didn't know him.

"Thanks," Albus said, sighing and flopping on the chair opposite the boy. He sighed and closed his eyes. Rose rolled her eyes and nudged him. His eyes snapped open and he leapt up into an erect sitting position. Rose almost laughed and, as it was, she barely retained a snort of derision. "I'm Albus Potter." Al held his hand out to the boy across from them. The boy widened his eyes and looked hurt, for some reason. He swallowed and sort of shrunk away from Al's hand.

"I know, we know each other. We've met a couple of times. I know both of you." The boy said. Rose swore in her head. "I'm Bradley. Bradley Longbottom." Rose's eyes widened and she remembered meeting Bradley a couple of times before, at her house and at Uncle Harry's house. He was Neville's son, and always sat in the corner reading daggy comic books and Muggle novels. No wonder she forgot him.

She turned to Al. "I can't believe you forgot who Brad was!" He looked so alarmed that she though he was going to run crying from the compartment. But instead he licked his lips nervously and turned to Bradley.

"S-sorry. I remember you now, it's just that I've been so busy at school I forgot what you looked like, for about a second. I completely remember you now." He said.

Bradley studied him for a second, then grinned and nodded, totally believing him. "Okay!" He chirped. _Well_, Rose thought, _if the stories were true about Neville as a child, I suppose this is sort of normal…_

For the rest of the train ride, they had a great time with Bradley. He had a pack of exploding snap cards and Al bought them all chocolate frogs. Rose pulled out her chess board and, by the time they got to King's Cross Station, Bradley had repaired Al's chess pieces about five times, and he hadn't had the guts to challenge Rose himself.

When the train started braking, Al was getting down his trunk and moving out the door even though the train hadn't stopped yet. "Why so eager, Al?" Rose asked.

"I just… I can't wait to see mum and dad." He smiled at her and she could almost forget that just a couple of hours ago, his robes had been trimmed with green.

Rose grimaced as the thought entered her head. "Um… have you told my dad that you're in Slytherin?" Al's eyes widened and he shook his head. "Well… I haven't. Um…" She said and got her own trunk down as the train came to a complete stop. "You tell him!" she yelled down the corridor to Al's receding figure which was already at the door of the train. He stopped at the door, scowled at her, and then left the train, and she walked back into the compartment in time to see him leap into her Uncle Harry's arms, his trunk forgotten at the compartment door.

"Slytherin! I'm so proud of you." Albus's dad said, his green eyes crinkling behind his glasses as he smiled. Al grinned and hugged him again, squeezing hard and laughing. He only just now realized he had been worried about whether his dad would be happy or not, disregarding anything Harry had said at the start of the year.

James walked out of the train, scowled at Al and then kissed his mother on the cheek. Al's face flushed, and he went to get his trunk for a moment of privacy. When he got back, Harry was talking to James about Christmas. "…And George is going to be there, with Fred and Roxanne, and of course Percy and Audrey will come too, with Molly and Lucy. And Charlie will probably make an appearance with one of his girlfriends. That sounds like fun, right? But don't worry James, Teddy will surely be there too. I even think he's coming with us." Harry sighed tiredly at the thought, and then smiled when Albus came back. Al opened his mouth to contribute to the conversation but James smirked and cut in front of him, asking another question and stopping him from talking to his father. Al pouted and went to say h to Ginny, wiping his eyes on his shirt as he went.

"Ugh, so what if it's crowded here, why do _I_ have to sleep on the couch?" Rose complained at her dad when they arrived at the Burrow on Christmas Eve.

"Don't worry, Rosie. Al will sleep down here with you, and so will Fred and Louis. You'll have a ball." Ron replied, tousling Rose's already unruly hair. She pouted, but stopped when they entered the crowded kitchen Grandma Weasley tapped her cheek and opened her arms for a hug.

Later, after she gad grouped with Al, Fred and Hugo, and she'd stopped worrying about sleeping on the lumpy couch, Rose did have a good time. Even though Fred was eighteen and Hugo was ten, they all were practically the same age in maturity level. They de-gnomed the garden, set up the Christmas tree and ate a bunch of Grandma Weasley's cooking. By the end of the night, when all the kids were yawning and the grown-ups had pulled out their second bottle of firewhiskey, Rose was ready to go to bed.

"Dad," Rose whined, interrupting her father's conversation with his brother Percy. "Dad, I'm tired. So shut up." Ron looked like he was about to laugh, but Percy was looking insulted.

"Manners, young miss." Percy chided. "You'd never see my daughters talking like that." He told Ron. Rose knew for one thing that Lucy, who had gotten the looks of her mother, had hung out with the wrong crowd at Hogwarts before she graduated and Molly was so antisocial she snapped at everyone in the common room when she was studying with a lot crueler words than shut up. But she just nodded seriously and apologized to her uncle Percy. Ron kissed her forehead and she went to the lounge room where Al was waiting, in his faded Holyhead Harpies pajamas, and together they crawled into the fort they'd made previously and went to sleep.

Rose woke the next morning to Al curled like a cat, his knees jarring into her ribs, and eighteen-year-old Fred's foot in her face. She wheezed from disgust, shoved his foot away and sneezed as Louis assaulted her with some sort of spray deodorant he had stolen from Dominique's present pile. Al was jolted awake as Fred shoved him away from Rose on his way to tackle her to the ground for waking him up, and he fell back against the couch-pillow-wall that was, unfortunately, closest to the Christmas tree.

With a great tinkling crash the tree fell to the floor, stopping them all mid-stride. Fred was bent over Rose, looking around to see if anyone was hurt, fingers still on Rose's stomach as he stopped mid-tickle-attack. Fourteen-year-old Louis was standing on the shell of the couch, arms behind his head, fingers clutching his shiny blond hair, looking expectantly at the staircase which lead up to the bedrooms where everyone was staying. Rose was panting, out of breath from laughing, and trying not to sneeze from the sickly smell of Gabrielle Delacour's own line of perfume, and was about to shove Fred away from her. Al was lying amongst the wreckage of baubles, ornaments and tinsel, shaking from laughter, but trying to squirm into a comfortable position which was hard because he had a tree across his stomach.

They all heard a door open from upstairs and Fred leapt up off Rose and whipped his wand out from his pajama pocket. He lifted the tree and set it up, quickly following with repairing and enchanting the decorations to re-attach themselves to the tree. He then lifted Al from the ground, set him on his feet, enchanted all the pillows to jump back onto the couch and gestured them all to sit down. Louis threw the perfume back into Dominique's present pile and Fred summoned a pack of explosive snap, which they all grabbed about a quarter of the pack and pretended to play.

"Fred Weasley, if that was you, you won't be working with dad for another whole year!" Angelina Weasley stormed down the stairs, followed by George, his red hair still rumpled by sleep. Fred's clenched his fists around his card, but grinned at his mother, acting nonchalant.

"Mum, calm down, nothing's wrong here. We're just playing cards. What happened, did something wake you up?" He looked at her innocently, his light-brown eyes shining and his teeth glinting as he smiled. George winked and nodded approvingly behind Angelina's back, giving Fred the thumbs up, whilst Angelina glared at her son, making Fred's mocha-coloured skin pale.

"Aunt Angelina, what did you hear?" piped up Albus. Angelina had always had a soft spot for Al, which was noticeable when her gaze switched to him and immediately softened. She re-tied her Holyhead Harpies dressing gown and pondered for a second.

"I hope you haven't started opening your presents, boys and girl." She looked pointedly and Fred and Louis, who were the family trouble-makers, but they both smiled angelically at her and everyone shook their heads.

"These are my cards, Aunt Angelina." Rose said, smiling and showing her aunt the battered case of her exploding snap pack. Looking defeated, Angelina walked into the kitchen and started rummaging around for things for breakfast, mumbling something about how life was easier when she played Quidditch.

A while later, after everyone was up and breakfast had been had, everyone dispersed to open their presents. Rose, Al and Fred went outside, wrapped in mittens and scarves, to open theirs because it was less crowded and Fred always like blasting the gnomes with his wand when they tried to steal his hoard.

Rose got books, a new wand case, a Gryffindor jumper, red-and-gold striped socks, confectionary, home-made fudge and a woolen jumper (from Grandma Weasley, of course) and Weasley Wizard Wheezes products. Verity had given her a box of chocolate frogs, Al had proudly presented her with a sugar quill and a book he knew she wanted. She disappointedly noted that she received nothing from Scorpius.

Al received all things green. His parents seemed to want to go all out to show they were fine with his house, giving him green striped pyjamas, a brand new Slytherin cloak, three pairs of green-and-grey socks, some patterned ties, robes and even two scarves, both with green and silver on them just different patterns. From Rose he got new Quidditch gloves and Verity gave him a box of ice-mice. Al cast a crestfallen look at Rose as he also realised nothing was in his present pile from Scorpius.

"What did you get, Fred?" Al asked trying to forget his feeling of being left out. Fred chuckled and rolled his eyes.

"Grown up stuff, unfortunately. Your piles are way better." He sighed and blasted a gnome off its feet as it tried to run off with his new copy of _Advanced Transfiguration for the Working Wizard_. "Being old is no fun at all." He grumbled.

"But Fred!" Rose piped up. "You can use magic outside of school! And you can work at the Shop, and you can go anywhere you want! Isn't that the best part of being a grown up?" He just shook his head and laughed.

Al smiled sadly but was distracted by two handsome Eagle Owls as they flew through the Burrow window. He followed them inside, Rose and Fred trailing him. They found them sitting on the table, waiting for someone to notice them as all the adults were in the sitting room. Al untied two letters and a small package from one owl's leg, and the same from the other. The owls hooted at him impatiently, and he frowned at them, went to the sink and filled a bowl with water, then returned, mumbling something that sounded vaguely like "next time, say please."

One of the cards said 'Rose', whilst the other said 'Albus', both written in beautiful calligraphy. The same names and script were on either package. One of the other letters was addressed to 'The Weasley's' and one to 'Mr. Potter.'

"Dad!" Al yelled in the direction of the sitting room, still unsure about the packages and who they were from. Harry walked into the kitchen hurriedly but stopped short and smiled tiredly at the two owls on the table. He walked past the owls, telling them they were late. They puffed out their chests irritably and, when he opened the window to let them out, they cuffed him over the head with their wings. He just chortled and grabbed the letters addressed to him and the Weasley's.

"Who're these from, Dad? Can we open them?" Al asked, slowly reaching for his gift. Harry laughed again and smiled warmly at his son.

"Of course you can open it. And if you do, you'll find out who it's from, won't you?" Al poked his tongue out at his dad, and sat at the table, dragging his present closer to him as his dad walked upstairs to his temporary room. Rose wondered why he didn't return to the others, but maybe he wanted some privacy. Uncle Harry could be weird at times, and Christmas was one of them. Her dad said it was because he never had a proper Christmas until he was eleven and that scarred him for life. But Rose wasn't sure if that was true, because right after he said that her mother wacked Ron up the arm and told him not to be mean.

Fred took a seat beside Al, just as curious as he was, and Rose sat opposite them, grabbing her present and card. She tore open the letter addressed to her. Inside was a card that had 'Merry Christmas' on the top, in the same calligraphy, with a large manor in the background. It was snowing, the white manor gardens in the foreground with a cast-iron gate with an 'M' in the centre of the frosty bars. Her eyebrows rose as she opened the card. It said;

_Dear Rose,_

_Hope you're having a Merry Christmas and that you have a wonderful New Year._

_See you at school,_

_Scorpius._

She almost laughed, then turned to the package on the table. Under the plain brown paper was gold wrapping, which she ripped open to find a large box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. She smiled and put them with her other presents.

Al had received the same card as Rose, but the message inside was longer, with more personal details about Scorpius's holidays. Rose frowned, but then remembered that Al and Scorpius were closer than Scorpius and herself, so Al deserved more details. Most of the time, Scorpius and Rose quarrelled. Al and Scorpius usually studied or chatted about their day, something normal friends do. Rose bit back a laugh as she remembered their last argument, and turned as she saw Teddy and James enter the room.

"Hey Teddy!" Al said, smiling in his direction. Teddy grinned and clapped Al on the shoulder, making James pout and glare at Al. Rose rolled her eyes.

"Hey Ted, is Aunt Andromeda here yet?" Rose asked. She loved Andromeda Tonks, even though they weren't directly related, Rose found her so interesting to talk to.

"No, I don't think she's coming this year. She was helping me move out and, well, she found some of mum's baby stuff. You know how it is." Ted answered offhandedly, but she saw he was worried. "Your gran's on the way over to help her out." He added. Rose smiled, thinking of Grandma Weasley busting around while Aunt Andromeda was having a cup of tea and holding some baby shoes.

"Who're you moving in with, Ted?" Fred asked, leaning back in his chair. He was always more adult when people closer to his age were around him.

"Oh, you know Brian Zeller and Lucas McLaggen, they bought an apartment in London and they said if I pay a third, I can stay. Its three bedrooms so it's a pretty sweet deal." Fred nodded.

"You always stick around with your little nerdy friends, don't you Lupin?" Fred joked. Teddy's hair turned a dark shade of red but he just rolled his eyes.

"Jealous, Weasley, that _I_ got the NEWT score _I_ wanted? And I do have a job interview soon that might just be the thing that tips you over the edge." Fred glared at Ted, and Rose sighed loudly, nodding in the direction of the sitting room, and which two adults had just emerged.

"Time to go, Rose. Have you seen Hugo?" Hermione asked Rose, who shrugged.

"He's usually with Louis, isn't he? Have you checked the attic? They love tormenting the ghoul in its old age." Rose answered, getting up and collecting all of her gifts.

"I'll go," said Ron, already making his way up the stairs. Harry and Ginny also came into the kitchen, telling James and Albus that they needed to take off too.

After they all said goodbye, the Potter's got into the car, Harry rejecting Ginny's offer to drive. When they were on the road, Harry checked his watch then grinned into the rear-view mirror at his kids.

"It's only one o'clock, so I think we have time to visit your _favourite_ cousins!" He said, laughing when all three Potter children broke into cries of protest.

They arrived about half an hour later in a quiet Muggle suburb, in the driveway of a quaint but plain house. They trundled up the driveway sullenly, only Harry bounding forewords. He rang the doorbell, and it was answered by a man of Harry's age, who was robust but sturdy, with thick arms and neck. He gave a quiet word of surprise when he saw the Potter's, but shook Harry's hand warmly enough. His blond hair was receding a little, and he had a bushy moustache, but when he invited them inside, Dudley Dursley's eyes were kind yet hesitant as he nodded at Ginny and eyed the three Potter children.

"Oh Harry, I didn't know you were coming today! I had my suspicions, since you always do pop around some time on Christmas, but, we've just finished lunch, so I'll have to apologise." Said Fiona Dursley, Dudley's wife. She worked in sport advertisement, which was where she met Dudley during his wrestling days, and was slender with blue eyes and blond hair in a chic bob. Though she found the Potter's slightly abnormal, she was amused by them and liked the fact that they came around even though Dudley and Harry hadn't always been friends.

"Why don't you go find the kids," Harry told his children, and gathered Ginny under his arm as he answered Fiona.

With James in the lead, the Potter kids walked the narrow staircase that lead to the Dursley children's bedrooms. James called out a hesitant hello and, soon enough, a door opened and Becca Dursley poked her head around the door. "Oh, guys, it's just you. We're in here, if you wanna come in." She said, and receded back into the room. The Potter kids went in too, slowly peeking around the door and hiding their wands from sight. James tucked his shirt over his while Al slid his into his boot. James grinned slowly as he saw his second-cousins, and ran a hand through his curly brown hair. Lily pulled nervously on one of her flaming pigtails and Albus coughed nervously.

Both Dursley children were big. They had blond hair and blue eyes, and were tall. Rebecca was the oldest of the two at fourteen with long hair in a bun. Then was Bruce was twelve, with curly hair and was muscly, like his dad. They were both surrounded by their bounty, which was expensive muggle presents that the Potter's looked at with interest.

"What's that?" Lily pointed at a glass block on a small silver platform. Becca's eyebrows rose in annoyance and Bruce's snort of derision was incredibly audible. But all they did was explain that the platform had four coloured lights in it and, when turned on, they shone through the glass and illuminated the picture within it. James looked frostily at the present and, when he sat down, accidentally-on-purpose knocked it over, with a loud _thunk,_ onto the wooden floor.

"Oops," he sneered, and Becca glared at him, as she always did. He then picked it up and settled it, quite on purpose, upside down and just out of reach from both Dursley children. Al sat on one side of James, with Lily on the other, and tried to steer the conversation away from the frosty angle it was taking.

"So, um, what did you do today?" Al asked, hoping to quell the mood.

"Pop and Gran came round this morning and left just before you got here," Bruce answered, wrinkling his nose in Al's direction. Al saw James lean back casually and Lily tighten her fist.

"And how are they?" James drawled, grinning somewhat sinisterly at his second-cousins.

"They're fine," Becca said, "They just did the usual, you know, give us _expensive_ gifts," she eyes their Weasley jumpers, which they were all still wearing and, even though Grandma Weasley had quite a bit of money now, it was hard to give up on her little-money spending habits and still ends up buying yarn from the same run-down shop for the jumper tradition. "Bring _heaps_ of food from that fancy hotel/restaurant in London, and talking about how much of a, let's say, a _disappointment_ you all were to them. To use nicer words." James's eyes flashed, Lily put her arms around her legs and hugged her knees to her chest and Albus actually glared at Becca.

Becca and Bruce doted on their grandparents, and, according to the apologising Dudley, they listened and believed whatever they said. Though Vernon and Petunia Dursley had softened towards the Potters in face-to-face contact, old habits die hard and they always seemed to be pointing out a flaw of the Potters to Rebecca and Bruce, most importantly how all three children had gone the same way as their parents: highly abnormal.

"At least we can think for ourselves," Al said quietly, glowering at his cousins.

"Shut up, freak, no one asked for your opinion," Bruce said. He couldn't really string together much a sentence, and Harry said that he was too much like Dudley in his younger years.

Now what would have normally happened was that Lily would have taken James and Al's hands and steered them safely back downstairs to pretend that nothing had happened. Al was usually withdrawn and hurt afterwards and James was taken because he was in forcible need of removing himself because, if it was himself or Lily that was insulted, he would be about to jump the Dursley's, or if the insults were aimed at Al he would be on the verge of complimenting the perpetrators on their wits.

As it was, Lily had just stood up when James, eyes furious, snapped "Don't say that to him," Lily's eyebrows rose and Al actually did a double-take to check that it was James that was talking. "He tries hard for a Potter, you just don't know it. You stuck-up little-" Lily yanked James through the door and down the stairs, Al leaving after them with a polite "Thanks for your time,"


	4. Poppy

"And that's what happened. Strange, huh? And then he treated me like normal for the rest of the holiday!" Al explained to Rose, as they found an empty compartment on the Hogwarts Express. The train was already moving, and they were surprised that they found this empty compartment, though it must have been the last one because, only a few minutes after they had gotten settled, a girl in their year who was vaguely familiar opened the compartment door.  
>"Can I sit here with you? Some lunatic's showing off in my old compartment and I had to move, he was so annoying." She said. She had long blond hair, brown eyes and a freckly complexion. She seemed to be bursting with energy and was already changed into her Hufflepuff robes.<p>

"Ah, sure!" Rose said, startled by the girl's big smile and frequently moving hands. Al had his thinking face on and had narrowed his eyes.

"Did the lunatic have brown hair and eyes?" Al asked shrewdly.

The Hufflepuff girl's eyes widened. "Yeah?"

"About ye high?" he gestured to a height that was slightly taller than he was. The girl nodded. Al sighed. "I'm going to apologise now for my brother."

The girl burst out laughing, but when she stopped she smiled and said "When I see him next, I'll tell him apology accepted. I'm Poppy Lindle, by the way."

The cousins introduced themselves and found that, despite the fact that Poppy was slightly overenthusiastic, she was quite fun to hang around with. She was a muggleborn and had no brothers or sisters, but didn't seem spoilt or selfish in any way.

"And then I got my letter and I was ever so excited, but it was so unexpected! I mean, I've read books about magic, but being magic _myself,_ it was so wonderful! I thought those books were fiction!" Poppy sighed, and then smiled at Rose and Albus, who had been listening in awe at how fast she could speak. Outside the train were frosted fields now, but no livestock because they would be huddled somewhere warm.

"I once hit a fairy," Al said, somewhat stupidly, as he was still staring, stunned, at Poppy.

"Oooh, what was it like?" Poppy edged forward on her seat and leant her face on her hands, her elbows on her knees. Albus blinked, and then explained the story of how he had mistaken a golden fairy for a bee.

After the trolley had come past and Poppy had wrangled the almost complete life stories out of Rose and Albus, their compartment door rattled open and James walked in. He flopped between Al and Rose, and stretched his legs out over Al's and rested his head in Rose's lap.

"Al, have you seen my Gryffindor socks?" he asked. "The ones I wear for Quidditch? I think you packed them by mistake."

"How would I pack red-and-gold socks when all I wear at school is green, black and grey?" Al responded. James shrugged, and then looked apprehensively over at Poppy. He raised his eyebrows at Rose, and she sighed.

"James, this is Poppy Lindle. Poppy, this is the lunatic you described, James Potter." James cheeks flushed, but he just grinned at Poppy. Her cheeks went a brighter colour than his did, and she stuttered a greeting.

"You were the girl who tried to jinx me, weren't you?" James said. Poppy's cheeks, if possible, darkened and she froze. For the first time since Poppy entered their compartment, Al and Rose found her to be speechless. But not for long.

"W-well, you did almost hit me in the f-face." She stammered, obviously mortally embarrassed. James grin got snide as Poppy added "And you were describing how utterly _fantastic_ you are at Quidditch, but you were waving your arms like an idiot so I can't _possibly_ imagine how you could fly properly if you use those techniques-" James narrowed his eyes at Poppy at sat up quite abruptly, almost knocking Rose in the chin. He swung his feet off Al and planted them firmly on the ground.

"Well, _Poppy_, you'll just have to come to our first game and see how I fly. _Then_ you'll see how amazing I am." He didn't smile again, and got up to leave. Poppy snorted in apparent derision and raised her eyebrows at James. He glared at her, and, all of a sudden, her honey-blond hair turned a rusty crimson colour.

Poppy shrieked and James's eyes widened. "What did you _do_, James?" Rose yelled, glaring at her cousin. Even Albus looked fiercely at him as he crossed the compartment to comfort the hysteric Poppy.

"I-I didn't mean-" James started, but Rose snapped at him over the sound of Poppy's wails.

"Just go, James." She said, and turned and placed a hand on Poppy's knee. James looked at them guiltily and sidled up to the door. He opened his mouth but was silenced by a look from Rose and he slunk out the door and was gone.

"It's okay," Al was saying to Poppy, but he looked desperately at Rose. "You know a spell to fix this, right?" he asked her in a low whisper. Rose bit her lip and shook her head.

"I'm just going to run and get a teacher, but I'll be back in a jiffy. Don't you worry, Poppy," she said soothingly to the girl who was clutching her hair.

Rose returned shortly with Professor Lampwick, who was the potions teacher at Hogwarts, but by that time Poppy had considerably calmed down. She was now smoothing her flaming hair in the window, and chatting to Al about how this colour freaked her out because she didn't like blood. She was in the middle of the story when Rose and Professor Lampwick entered, but she stopped and sighed in relief.

Professor Lampwick was a tall thin man who had flaming purple hair and pale grey eyes. He looked old, but he was always bursting with joyful energy so his actions seemed youthful. In a trice Poppy's hair was back to normal and, with a few comforting words and some soothing smiles, Professor Lampwick had left, leaving the three students alone again.

"I hope nothing like that happens ever again!" Poppy said, putting her hair up in a twist then sticking her wand through it. "And if I _ever_ talk to James Potter again," her brown eyes flashed "I _won't_ accept his apology!"

Poppy took to hanging around with Al, Rose, Verity and Scorpius after that. She devised a seating plan for all of them; that they would alternate between the Slytherin, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables at meal times, because they had gone back to eating indoors when Poppy reasoned that they had such a big group that no one would fling food at them. And, so far, no one did.

James had approached Poppy numerous times to apologise, but she just waved him off and walked away. If he tried to follow her she would either sprint to the Hufflepuff common room, the girls bathroom or to her next class. If he caught her in the library, she would studiously ignore him or get him sent out by Miss Frey, the librarian. It was seriously bad luck for James if she was with Rose, because she would peg him with a glare that Ron and Ginny both said came from their mother.

One morning, Rose, Verity and Poppy were sitting at the Gryffindor table. Rose was drinking icy pumpkin juice, Poppy was trying to reach the bacon but just couldn't and Verity was putting a ton of sugar syrup in her coffee. It was too early for most students to be up but it was the time they preferred because they got less stares. Rose was twisted around and watching the doors to the Entrance Hall and relaxed as she saw Al and Scorpius enter, but tensed again and she saw Vanessa Alferdale enter with them and then saw Alferdale's eyes slide in her direction. She turned quickly back to the table, just in time to see James slide in opposite them and lift the plate of bacon into Poppy's awaiting hands.

"Listen Poppy," James started but Poppy quickly loaded bacon onto her toast, pretending not to hear. "I _really_ didn't mean to," James tried again, but Poppy sighed loudly. James tried once more, just as Albus and Scorpius arrived. "It was _accidental_ magic. Everyone does it-"

Poppy finally looked at him and stood up. "_Accidental? ACCIDENTAL?_ So it was an 'accident'," she quoted the word with one hand, still holding the greasy bacon plate with the other "That my hair turned the colour of blood? And it was a complete coincidence that I happen to be absolutely _terrified_ of blood? I am _sick_ of you apologising James Potter. I thought you had caused my whole head to bleed. I was _crying_. I-" she took in a deep breath, but decided it wasn't worth it when she saw James's mouth hanging open, looking deeply stunned at her outburst. She just ended up hurling the greasy bacon plate at him and storming off, Rose and Verity leaping up to follow her. Al was watching Scorpius try to contain his laughter and James watched Poppy try to dry her eyes on her robes as she left the hall.

"So, as I was going to tell you at breakfast, I didn't make the Quidditch team." Albus chatted to Rose happily as they met briefly in the hall.

"Oh Al, I'm sorry," Rose looked sympathetically at Al, but he seemed quite content at his failure.

"It's okay. I'd rather make the team next year than make James stop talking to me again for outdoing him." And with that Albus grinned shyly at Rose and trotted off to potions, while Rose walked the other way to Transfiguration, which she wondered whether Poppy would be making an appearance. As Rose took her seat beside a slightly worried Verity, Rose saw that Poppy wasn't in the room.

Poppy had gone to their first class with puffy eyes and a detention slip from Professor Shrup, the Transfiguration teacher, for throwing the bacon at James and causing a raucous in the Great Hall. It was Poppy's first ever detention, and coupled with the fact she lost twenty points from Hufflepuff, she was having quite a distressing morning. During second period she was sent to the Hospital Wing for some soothing medicine they usually gave to the fifth years in OWL time. By the time for third class she had calmed down a bit but decided to quieten down for about forever.


	5. Redemption

"It's not that bad," Rose tried coaxing Poppy to eat her shepherd's pie for dinner since she hadn't had breakfast nor lunch, but Poppy just felt sick with anxiety. As far as she knew, no first year Hufflepuff had yet to lose fifteen points from their house, let alone twenty. And all in one shot! She was terrified of facing the common room tonight, especially alone, away from her friends.

"It's just... I felt as if I've disappointed everyone. And I'm only a muggleborn! How could I have caused so much trouble!" She took a deep breath. "No. No more crying."

Just then, Professor Shrup came to the Slytherin table, where they were sitting. He coughed to announce himself than started a speech that sounded severely rehearsed. "Poppy Lindle, it seems I was mistaken when I gave you a detention this morning, and took those points from your house; Hufflepuff. Someone came to speak to me around second period, when they saw you go to the Hospital Wing. It's all been taken care of and you do not have detention this Friday, nor did your house lose any points. So, sorry." He turned to leave as Poppy sat there, stunned.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait..." she said, and Professor Shrup turned back around, his eyebrows raised. "Sorry, sir, I meant, could you elaborate on that someone who came to speak to you?" she fidgeted nervously, almost not believing her good luck.

"He- I mean, they- asked to remain unnamed." Shrup answered. Before she could assault him with any more questions, Professor Shrup left and rejoined the staff at the head table. Verity cheered, and Scorpius punched the air. Al smiled secretly and Rose caught his eye. He just shrugged and looked quickly over at the Gryffindor table. Sitting amidst his friends was James, snorting and trying to see how many bread rolls he could fit inside his mouth. Rose looked back at Al and raised her eyebrows in a silent question: _Really?_

Al nodded, then, before Rose could get another silent word out of him, he said he needed to sleep and that it was time to go to bed. Poppy, who had been shovelling her face with pie, nodded in approval but Verity said she was in the mood for dessert. Scorpius wanted apple pie, so he said he'd stay with Verity. So it ended up Rose just walking up to the Gryffindor common room alone, and that was how she met James on the third floor.

"James!" She called, jogging a little to catch up with him and his friends. James excused himself from the group and waited for her to catch up.

"What now, Rose?" James looked suspiciously at Rose's hands, like she was going to whip her wand out and jinx him for what he did to Poppy. Rose narrowed her eyes at him, but tried a different approach, knowing he wouldn't directly admit he had saved Poppy from detention, if he had done it at all.

"So, I heard your friends are planning a... party, in the common room this Friday night. Is it true?" She saw his eyes grow puzzled.

"No, they wouldn't. I- I mean, some of us- are busy on Friday night." He shot a look at his friends, trying to decide whether they were planning a party without him.

"Oh," Rose feigned surprise, "What are you guys doing?"

James wouldn't meet her eyes as he said "Practicing for Quidditch. I got on the team, now that Adrian Carmichael has left." He grinned at Rose and she had to congratulate him. He was so bummed out last year that he didn't make the team that her frostiness towards him melted away. She didn't question him anymore, though she really did suspect he was lying, and that he had taken the blame for Poppy's outburst.

When they entered the common room she found a spot at near the window and did her homework alone. Later Verity came in and she told her everything James had said. Verity thought it over thoroughly, chewing on a piece of hair. Then she turned to Brent, James's friend and said, "What're you doing Friday?"

He looked at her in alarm. "We're a bit young to date, aren't we?" Brent said, aghast. Verity just rolled her eyes.

"I meant; are you practicing Quidditch with James?" He looked a whole lot more relieved when she told him that.

"Oh, no. Well, we _are_ going to play a practice round of Quidditch, but James got detention today, for something he won't tell us, and it's on Friday, so he's not playing with us." Brent smiled and got back to his potions essay, the blush still in his cheeks.  
>Verity raised her eyebrows and smiled at Rose. "I didn't know James could be so nice. Maybe Poppy should give him a second chance."<p>

Rose nodded "But, sadly, it's not our decision to make. Poppy's got to decide whether she wants to forgive him or not." She frowned at her homework. "Now, you're smart. What's the purple star to the right of Jupiter called?"

"Oh... that's sweet of him, I guess." Poppy sighed. It was two weeks after Poppy had yelled at James, and only now had Rose and Verity decided to tell Poppy what James had done. Since she had thrown bacon on him, James had not spoken a word to Poppy, as well as sitting as far away from her as possible. But sometimes Rose still caught him frowning, not in a bad way, more in a slow thinking way, at Poppy, like he was trying to decide what to do next about her. Then, a couple of nights ago, he had withdrawn from his friends completely. According to Brent, Verity's new confidant, he had been coming to bed late, and they all see him entering the common room, right on curfew. He had bags under his eyes and was, Brent told them, sleeping through lessons. But James was strangely cheerful when they saw him, always grinning tiredly at Rose, or playfully punching Albus on the shoulder. He even took to flicking Scorpius on the forehead when the blond stated something James found funny or offensive, or throwing Verity's braids around, usually resulting in her snapping at him, but he never seemed to mind.

Verity and Poppy were walking down to the Quidditch pitch for the first game of the season, Gryffindor versus Slytherin. It was drizzling slightly but that didn't cool the mood of the spectators. It was the first game of the year, everyone was excited, and Scorpius, Rose and Albus went down to the pitch a bit earlier than Verity and Poppy because they wanted good seats.

"So what're you going to do?" Verity asked, raising her eyebrows questionably at Poppy.

"Well, I suppose it _was _pretty nice of him to do that... but maybe, if he's nicer I might forgive him." She seemed very unsure, and kept twisting her hair around her fingers.

"Well," Verity answered when they started going up to the seats at the pitch. "It is your decision, just make sure you make to right one." And then they joined their friends and the front of the stands, right near the pitch, and waited for the game to start.

_Okay,_ James thought to himself, _if we win, I'll do it. If we lose, I'll leave her alone forever._ He felt so horrible for what he had done, and when Poppy had yelled at him he felt even worse, knowing what she had gone through. He had tried acting normal afterwards, but it just wasn't like making Rose angry, or even his dad. With Poppy, he had actually caused her to be frightened and _cry, _not just squeal in fright. And guilt had followed him around for the weeks that followed, and he felt that he needed her to apologise for him to be okay. It's not like she was a stuck-up pureblood- she was a muggleborn, one of the kindest ones, he'd heard. And with Poppy angry at him, even Al had changed the way he looked at James. Not with anger, more with... disappointment. He had to win them all back on his side, and to do that he needed to earn Poppy Lindle's forgiveness.

He was in the changing rooms with the Gryffindor Quidditch team, about to play his first ever match at school. He hastily stuffed a folded piece of cloth in his inner-pocket, marvelling that it just fit because it was so big, when Gregory Wood, Gryffindor's Quidditch Captain, started his speech.

Gregory Wood was a bulky sixteen-year-old with black curly hair and brown eyes. He was bulky and played as keeper for the team, always working on their strong points and finding ways to work around their weaknesses. His parents had met after Oliver Wood had come into the Ministry of Magic to see some new broom prototypes and met Marcy Wait, who worked in the Department of Magical Games and Sports as the British promoter for Italy for the Quidditch World Cup.

The Chasers besides James on the team was Freya Summers and Melissa Cartwright, who were both in their fifth year. The Seeker was a scrawny third year called Lachlan Unyt and their Beaters were Roxanne Weasley and Marty Finch. Altogether, James thought they had a pretty good chance of winning the cup.

"This is what we've been practicing for, guys!" Gregory said, looking confident as he looked at his team. "We know all the drills and what to do in every situation,"

"What if someone throws bubotuber pus at us?" Roxanne inquired, looking deadly serious but not quite hiding the spark of mischievousness in her eyes. Gregory rolled his eyes but kept going like he hadn't heard her.

By the end of his speech, James felt like they could smash the Slytherins into bowtruckle pieces. "Are you ready to do this, Gryffindor? We won't lose!" Gregory yelled punching the air.

"Touch Wood!" Roxanne yelled, and the whole team dropped their wooden broomsticks and swarmed over the Gryffindor captain, who just struggled out of the team and walked to the door, like this happened every time they were about to play.

"Let's win this!" He cried, and then walked out to the corridor that lead out to the pitch.

James swallowed and touched the piece of fabric in his pocket. _If we win..._ he thought, and straightened his shoulders and joined his team.

The crowd cheered as they walked on, and James waved to the crowd. He searched the stands but the drizzling rain made it hard to see anyone, so he couldn't pick out Albus or Rose in the mass of people watching the game. But then, as he scanned the Gryffindor front row, he saw a Hufflepuff scarf, with two Slytherin one's next to it. Then he caught a flash of flaming red hair and knew that that was where they were.

He adjusted his goggles as the two team captains shook hands.

"I expect a clean game from all of you. Mount your brooms!" Mr. Prester called, scowling at the players. James lifted his leg over his broom and got ready to fly. "Three," As Mr. Prester counted down, James tensed. "Two," The crowd was roaring in his ears. "One," If his plan didn't work, he would be ashamed of himself forever. _Accidental_ magic, yeah right.

"_Go!"_

James shot up into the sky as Freya expertly grabbed the Quaffel from under the Slytherin captain's nose and shot off toward the Slytherin end of the pitch. James took her flank and swerved to avoid a Bludger that whistled by his nose. He flew along upside down for a little while, ignoring the blood rushing through his ears. Or was that the crowd? He didn't know. All he could focus on was the huge red ball under Freya's arm.

"James!" She screamed over the roaring wind/crowd. "Go to the other side of the goal post!"

The message, clearly, couldn't be more defined. He straightened up and zoomed away to the other side of the three huge goal posts, well aware of the Keeper eyeing him, but the Keepers attention was more on Freya. The Keeper knew Freya's tactics more, so she was ready when Freya tried to feint to one side. The Keeper batted the Quaffel towards one of the Slytherins but didn't anticipate James, who swooped in suddenly and stole the Quaffel mid-pass. He sped towards the goals, diving around the Keeper and then, with an almighty thrust, he threw the Quaffel with all his might at the goal post. When it sailed through the centre, James was so shocked he dropped several feet, but he soon regained his senses and sped off after the Slytherin chaser who had the Quaffel. He grinned to himself and thought, _I'm going to be the best Chaser this team has ever seen._ He then thought for a moment, and added, _Love you, Grandpa James. But you got to pass the torch some time!_ He grinned to himself again and laughed out loud. He really did love Quidditch.

"We won!" Verity gasped, hugging Rose and cheering vigorously along with the crowd. Poppy, her hair soaking from the rain, was laughing at Albus's expression, which was half way between disappointment for his house and happiness for Gryffindor.

Rose was watching James suspiciously as he sped towards Freya Summers, the Gryffindor Chaser, and asked her, apparently, to do something. She agreed, and suddenly the crowd gasped as they stretched a sign between them. It was a cloth sail, maybe a bed sheet, which was huge. Rose wondered how James got it in his pocket, let alone flew with it for a whole game. The she smiled as she saw what was written on it, and all the pieces fell into place. The writing was flashing colours that stood out and were easily legible even in the rain. Rose was impressed; the charm to do that was not easy to master. Then she turned to Poppy to see her reaction.

Poppy's mouth hung open as she read and re-read the giant sign. She could feel James's eyes pleading with her, even though his face was smudgy through the rain. She read the sign once more for emphasis, and then watched as it slowly crumpled to the ground as James and Freya dropped it. Then James was there, in front of the stands, hovering fifty feet above the ground, apologizing to her like it would mean the world if she forgave him. And she knew she couldn't fight him anymore.

"You're a softy, you know that? And I suppose you're not that bad at Quidditch." she said, and smiled at him. All of a sudden it seemed that a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders and he grinned back at her.

"Don't expect anything like this again. Lightning does not strike twice in the same place." He winked at her and sped off towards his celebrating team, flying without a second glance over his sign that was soaking mud up, turning the words distorted.

Poppy looked at it once more, before it became illegible, reading the words that were meant for her. It wasn't awe-inspiring, it wasn't as thought the gods wrote it. A twelve-year-old wrote it, for Dumbledore's sake, Poppy thought, using the reference that Rose always used, which Rose said she got from her father. What made it so special was just that he wrote it to her, in front of the whole school that made it so genuine.

**Poppy Lindle, you brought me a reason that, for once in my life, I have to sincerely say:**

_**I'm sorry**_

Then, just because it was James Potter, there was a rough animated drawing underneath, of a blond haired girl stick figure with a Hufflepuff scarf on blasting a wavy-haired Gryffindor boy with her wand, causing the boy to put on a teary face and have big fat tears coming down his face.

When she realized half the school was staring at her, Poppy flushed tomato red and ran off the stands, laughing when her friends caught up to her and cheered, because, finally, everyone was getting along.

For now.


	6. Framed

Al thumped his head on the desk and almost upset his ink. He was in the library surrounded by books trying to finish his essay on the properties of monkswood, but he was struggling. Poppy was helping old professor Sprout, who was about a billion years old now, take her books up to the staff room, and then will probably be rewarded with a cup of tea and a chat. Rose and Verity were doing something in the Gryffindor common room, where Al could not get a message to them, probably chatting about their girly habits and Scorpius- Al checked his Chudley Cannons wristwatch- was ten minutes late to this study fiesta.

He looked back to his book- _One thousand magical herbs and fungi_- and sighed as the words seemed to float off the page and swim before his eyes. He never knew how Rose and Aunt Hermione could just sit and read; it was just so boring to him. Sure, he enjoyed some books, but he wondered if comic books counted. They were much more fun to read.

He scratched in a few more lines to his essay in the biggest writing he could manage and was still an inch short. He groaned loudly and copped a glare from a Ravenclaw sixth year who had started on his fifth roll of parchment. Al blushed and laid his head on the desk again, only sitting up when he heard hurried footsteps to wipe the drool off his mouth.

"Hey," Scorpius dumped his books loudly on the table and answered the Ravenclaw's glare with one of his own. "Sorry Al, I was in the common room and I must have fallen asleep by the fire." Al rolled his eyes. Scorpius never fell asleep when he wasn't with his immediate friends or in bed.

"You were tutoring Vanessa again, weren't you? Don't worry, it's not like I'll tell Rose." Al felt a twinge of hurt that his best friend didn't tell him the truth, but it was understandable. Rose, for some reason, very strongly disliked Vanessa Alferdale, still. They were three quarters through the school year, the air just now getting warm at the end of winter, and every time Al or Scorpius spoke of Vanessa Alferdale, Rose would glare at them like they did something wrong. So they took to not talking about their encounters with her to Rose. But now, apparently, Al thought sourly, Scorpius thinks I'll tell Rose every little bit of information that happens when she's not around.

Al sighed as Scorpius apologized and tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. "Whatever, Scorp. Can you help me with this potions essay?" There was no point being mad at Scorpius- he just did what he thought was right. And, after a while, Al was usually made to forgive him by sly jokes or pleading for help with homework. The usual only subject he wasn't good at was potions, which was fine because Scorpius was good at it, so they helped each other out.

"Wow, you two are voluntarily in the library?" Half an hour after Scorpius had come, Rose had arrived in the library to return some books. She returned all but one, which she bought over to the boys' table, obviously intending to read it. She leant over the table to see what they were looking at. "Oh, that essay was a cinch, the book you need is-"

"I just finished it, Rose." Al stated, poking his tongue out at Rose. She pouted back, but it turned into a scowl as she saw Scorpius laughing at her. She stood up again, putting her nose in the air.

"Well, I'm going back to the common room." She sniffed haughtily and left the boys, who were laughing at her frustration. Then, after she left, they realized she had left her book on the table.

"What's she been reading, I wonder?" Scorpius smirked and snatched the book up. "_Hogwarts: A History, 2017 edition_. Ooh, it's this years' edition. So new!" He drawled and rolled his eyes at Albus, who laughed nervously. "We should probably take this back to her," Scorpius rolled his eyes and put his workbooks in his bag. He then stood and watched as Al quickly did the same.

They exited the library, Scorpius swaggering while Albus trotted beside him looking flustered. They knew where the Gryffindor Common Room was, of course. Everyone in the school knew where all four common rooms were, just pretended like they didn't- it was common courtesy and etiquette. But Al and Scorpius had never tried to enter the common room before. And none of the Gryffindor's, save Rose, Verity and James, really trusted Slytherin's, even if one of them was a Potter. So they had no idea how they were going to get the book back to Rose.

"If you see a Gryffindor, better let me talk to them," Al said on impulse, jumping the vanishing step and skipping up the last few steps to the seventh floor.

Scorpius raised a haughty eyebrow at him. "Why so, Albus?" he drawled. Al thought over his words and realized it might have been taken as a dig at Scorpius or his lineage, so he turned it into a joke.

"Because I'm so much more charming than you!" He grinned cheekily at Scorpius, who had no choice but to smirk back at the raven-haired boy. They got to the portrait of the Fat Lady, who was artfully pretending not to be a common room entryway, and announced their presences by giving implying coughs. She looked down her beaky nose at them and her mouth twisted into a scowl as she registered the green trim on their robes and their silver-and-green ties.

"Yes boys?" She all but snarled at them, obviously knowing they were going to try and get into the Gryffindor common room.

"You're up, Prince Charming," Scorpius whispered to Al, who shuddered and shrunk a little into his robes. But then he straightened his shoulders and looked the Fat Lady in the eyes.

"We want-" He started, but was so startled when she interrupted him he jumped, which sent Scorpius into a fit of poorly disguised laughter.

"No entry to anyone but Gryffindor's," She said in disgust.

"What if we know the password?" Al snapped back in an instant. The portrait's eyebrows rose and a look of surprise flitted across her face.

"Do you?" She asked in obvious shock.

"Well," Al's eyes went to the floor. "No. But we really need to-" She laughed at him then, which got him angry, making his green eyes flash. Scorpius stopped laughing and stood up straight, checking his watch to check how long until curfew, only to find curfew had been broken five minutes ago.

"WILL YOU LET ME FINISH?" Al yelled at the Lady, making her jump. "Now, as I was saying, we really need to speak to Rose Weasley, can you get her for us?" Albus glared at the Lady in the faded pink dress until she got up and scooted outside the frame, presumably to get Rose.

"Charming, Al." Scorpius drawled. Al playfully punched him in the shoulder. "By the way, curfew was broken seven minutes ago," Scorpius added, and grinned when Al looked around them at the empty corridors timidly, definitely regretting shouting. "Oh, chill," Scorpius leant against the wall of the corridor, but Al could see the tense of his shoulders and his light blue eyes flickering around.

"Ugh, come _on,_ Rose!" Al danced in agitation close to the portrait, only to get a thorough whack in the face as it opened quickly. He cried out and covered his nose with his hands.

"Scorpius?" Rose said, leaning out of the portrait hole, seeing the blond staring in shock at Al first before she saw the dark-haired boy staggering around with blood spurting out of his nose.

"Oh, my gosh!" she cried, and ran out to help him. "What happened?" she asked, guiding Al towards a spare classroom where he could sit.

"You hit me with a picture frame," He replied thickly, tilting his head back to keep the blood from running into his mouth. Scorpius followed them into the classroom, holding out _Hogwarts: A History_ wordlessly to Rose.

"I hit you with a…" It dawned on Rose what she had done and she cringed. "Sorry," she apologized in a meek voice, taking the book from Scorpius. She glanced at it. "Wait. _This_ is why you broke curfew? Why didn't you just give it to me tomorrow?" Al and Scorpius exchanged tired glances and Al chocked on a laugh that only made a bubble of blood burst in the corner of his mouth. They both knew Rose would have been outraged if they arrived at the breakfast table tomorrow with her book, having not given it to her the night they found it.

"Well, thanks guys," Rose smiled at Scorpius as the Malfoy poked Al's nose, causing Albus to give a muffled whimper and bat Scorpius's hand away.

"We should probably go," Scorpius said, and Al got up in consent. Rose nodded and left the room, whispering the password to the common room to the Fat Lady and being given the reply of "That boy is nothing like his father! I swear, not _once_ did Harry Potter yell at me!" with Rose replying a tired agreement which she only said to keep the old lady quiet.

Al and Scorpius had been out after curfew before and been caught by the caretaker three times. Mr. Filch was so old he should be wearing rollerblades to keep up with the students but always managed to catch wrongdoers while shuffling along at zero miles per hour. Maybe it was his demented cat Mrs. Norris who used her claws without mercy that kept the students rounded up long enough for Filch to give them detention. Mrs. Norris was really old but being a magical pet she had lived a long life.

The first time they got caught they were with James, heading for the Kitchens. The second time they were heading back to their Dormitory after falling asleep in an alcove for way too long and the third time, in which Filch had threatened that if he catches them again he'll send them to the Headmaster's office, they were successful in their kitchen plundering and heading past the Hufflepuff common room when they were sprung by the cat, who ended up ripping Al's robe and, somehow, causing Scorpius's chin to bleed so much he wore a Band-Aid on it for the rest of the week because he didn't want to seem 'less macho' by going to see Miss Pomfrey about a little cut.

They made it to the dungeons before they heard a cat mew behind them, but she was too late. "Password, password!" Al danced from foot to foot, jolting his nose painfully so he stopped, glancing nervously at the cat walking towards him, as he tried to remember the password to their dormitory.

"Uh, uh," Scorpius said, going pale as they heard shuffling footsteps. "Oh! Mugwump!" he cried at last, and they slipped inside the stone wall. They ran to the first year boys dormitory, and then both cracked up laughing, Al stopping immediately because it hurt. Their dorm mates weren't up there yet, so Al ran to the bathroom, Scorpius tailing him, and started scarping the now-dry blood off his face. Scorpius wet a towel and handed it to Al, who sponged off the rest of the blood and started inspecting the shallow bruising around his eyes.

"Thank god it's not broken," Al said, leaning towards the mirror and gently pressing on his nose. Scorpius looked at him in concern, but it mustn't have been that much of concern because he poked AL on the nose again, which made Albus growl at him as Scorpius laughed.

"Well, this'll be something good to tell at the breakfast table tomorrow." Scorpius snickered, imagining Al's black eyes and Rose's guilty face. Al scowled at Scorpius as he brushed his teeth. Scorpius grinned back and hopped into his four-poster bed, pulling his sheets up around him. Al copied him, but tried to close the curtains around his bed a bit too enthusiastically and ended up falling out of bed.

"Here's an idea." Al grumbled, getting off the floor and glaring at Scorpius who was laughing so hard he was getting a cramp. "How about we tell people you punched me in the face, and _nothing_ else about tonight, okay?" He ended up pleading with Scorpius, eyes wide and green. But Scorpius just chuckled.

"How about no. By tomorrow night, the whole school's going to know that you got beaten up by a picture frame and then you fell out of bed. Have fun with that." Scorpius responded, and quickly drew his own curtains around, like he thought the drapes could protect him from his murderous looking best friend, Albus Potter.


	7. Slytherin

Nearing exam time, Rose couldn't concentrate. One thing kept coming back into her head whenever she tried to study or calm down. It was a voice, a voice everyone at Hogwarts knew, that had told her something she hadn't put a lot of thought to until now, when she absolutely _had_ to focus on something else. She chewed on her quill, daydreaming in Potions class, thinking.

_I was always one for choices, as little Potter found out before..._ the voice in her head, the memory, the Sorting Hat said. She frowned, pretending to concentrate, and scratched down some revision nots off the board. All the while thinking;  
><em>Tonight, I'll ask Al about it. Tonight, I'll find out the truth.<em>

"Hey Al," Rose caught up to Al just as he was walking to the dungeon corridor with Scorpius, catching his elbow. Scorpius stopped too, but Rose just waved him away, and he shrugged and kept going. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" She said. They had been studying at the Library, all five of them, and Rose could have talked to Al then, but she wanted it to be private, because maybe Al didn't want to other's finding out. It was five minuted before curfew was enforced.

"Oh, yeah, sure Rose." Al looked puzzled, but he led her to an empty classroom all the same. "What's up?" he asked, probably thinking she'd lecture him about homework or exams. She took a deep breath in.  
>"Well, Albus, you see... the Sorting Hat told me something when it was Sorting me, and I was wondering if it was true." He raised an eyebrow, but otherwise remained impassive "It said... it said you chose to be sorted... into Slytherin." She held her breath, searching his face anxiously; somehow feeling that maybe he was mad. But he wasn't, he was just watching her, his expression not happy or angry, just his eyes that were searching for something. And that something was understanding.<p>

"Yes, it's true, Rose. I chose to be in Slytherin." He said, giving her as small smile. She tried to remain calm, but after remembering everything Uncle Harry, everything Albus's _father,_ had said about Slytherins, about how evil most of them were, she couldn't do it. She felt a muscle tick in her eyebrow, another jump in her jaw. She reminded herself forcefully that there was nothing wrong with Slytherins. She was friends with Slytherins. Okay, well, two, and she knew them both before they were Slytherins, but still. She wiped to memory of scrambled eggs hitting her scarf, and focused on the green eyes of her favourite cousin.

"Hm," was all she could say. Al stood up and gripped her arms.

"You understand, right? You have to Rose," His voice rose higher, and the unemotional barrier broke, revealing Al's panic. "I had to choose it. I'm not dad. I'm _not_ Harry Potter. I'm Albus. Just Albus. Just me! I can _never_ be like dad. I can't live like that, being expected to-" Albus was near yelling now, and Rose saw a whole ocean of dread in his eyes: horror at maybe he would lose them all. Rose, James, Harry, Ginny, Lily, Hugo, Louis, Fred, Roxanne, Molly- She shut her eyes and gripped Albus back, pulling him into a hug.

And she understood. All his life, all eleven years, Al had been living in the shadow of Harry Potter. All because of the green eyes and black hair, and gender of course. But Rose saw him. Saw Al. Saw his straight, neat hair that was from Ginny, the kind, thoughtful expression that was pure Albus, but also the cheeky smiles and knobbly knees that they say was from Lily's- the original Lily Potter's- grandfather. And also the raw kindness and acceptance that was Albus Potter, and completely his own.

"I know, Al, I know," She said to him, and she did. She knew that in his small way, choosing Slytherin had been to show that he was not Harry- just Albus, Harry Potter's son.

They stood for another minute, Al's head on Rose's shoulder, until finally they stood apart. Al laughed and Rose smiled back, very happy- until someone shuffled into the classroom and yelled, in a very old, croaky vice, "GOTCHA!"

Rose yelped, turning to Mr. Filch who stood in the doorway. He grinned evilly at them, gleeful at catching two students out of bed. Al mumbled something under his breath and shrunk behind the startled Rose.

"Two students out of bed, eh?" Filch said, edging closer. Rose almost wanted to go help the ancient man move; because he was so old it looked like it wasted all of his energy to move forward. But she didn't, in fear that he would reject her helping. "What are your names?" he sneered.

"Rose Weasley," Rose responded immediately. He nodded, disappointed.

"First Year, ay? Fine, you get a warning." His gleeful mood disappeared, but returned when he spotted Albus.

"Albus Potter? Again! Ha ha!" The old man was joyful, clapping his hands. "That's four nights now! It's off to the Headmaster's office for you!" he laughed. AL looked at his feet as Rose rolled her eyes at him. He was going to be in _so_ much trouble.

"Surely it's detention on the fourth night, Headmaster's office on the fifth, Mr. Filch, sir?" Rose asked, trying to maybe give Al reprieve. It was almost the end of the year.

"I'll make an exception for Mr. Potter here," Filch smiled cruelly at Al, who sighed in defeat. "Tomorrow afternoon, after classes have finished, meet Professor Shrup at the doors to the Great Hall, he'll take you to the Office from there." And Filch walked away, almost jovial.

"I best be off, Al. See you tomorrow," Rose looked at Al, smiling a little. He just laughed and said goodbye too. And they parted, both of them satisfied at the understanding; unsatisfied that Al was meeting the Headmaster tomorrow. And that Ginny was going to murder him.

Al fidgeted nervously. All day he had been trying not to catch Headmaster Truman's eye. But, alas, now was the time to meet Professor Shrup outside to doors to the Great Hall. Al thought that maybe he'd have to wait, but Professor Shrup was right on time. As always.

They walked in since to a giant griffin statue. Al looked around nervously for a door, but couldn't see one, suspecting maybe Shrup was lost. But then Shrup said to the statue, "Hallows," And the statue jumped out of the way, leading them to a spiral staircase. Al could hardly move because,

That was totally epic and he was awed.

He was so terrified of his mother and the Headmaster that he wanted to sink through the spiral staircase and never be seen again.

"Don't repeat that password to anyone, now, will you, Potter?" Professor Shrup gave Al a stony look over his shoulder as they climbed the stairs. Al squeaked, and he guessed that Shrup took that as a yes. It was the first time all year Al had seen Shrup smile.

Shrup deposited Al in Headmaster Truman's office, shutting the door behind him while telling Al to "Sit tight. I know Gabriel will be here soon. He's probably just finishing up on getting your report from Argus," Al looked nervously as the door closed, the news that Headmaster Gabriel Truman was getting his report not making him feel any better.

Albus found he couldn't stay still under the pressure of the Headmaster's office. He began to pace around, noticing the pictures on the big desk and the subtle decoration of Hufflepuff House. the pictures, he noticed, were of his parents with Headmaster Truman, and also lots of shots of his wife and their young son. He also noted Hannah Longbottom, Neville's wife, in some of the shots. They must have been friends. Albus smiled, but after another five minutes of anxious pacing, he had to ask or talk to someone. He approached one of the portraits, presumably of a previous Headmaster, that was hanging on the wall. He coughed nervously. The man in the picture with the greasy-hair and hooked-nose opened his eyes and glared.

"Hello," Albus Severus said.

"Mm," the man answered, gazing intently in Albus's eyes. Al was immediately uncomfortable.

"Do you know when Professor Truman will be coming back?" Al asked. The man shook his head.

"Are you, by any chance, the spawn of Harry Potter?" The greasy-haired man inquired.

"Oh, yes." Al smiled nervously, noticing how quickly his question was blown off. He also saw, out of the corner of his eye, the other Headmaster's, after hearing this news, open their eyes a fraction and glance at the legendary Harry Potter's son. He hated being asked that question, especially by strangers.

"Thought so. You have her eyes, but you probably possess all of his ungrateful qualities." The previous Headmaster said. Al didn't know what to say. He was pretty sure he had his dad's eyes- that's what everyone told him, and he knew that. Maybe the scary man was confused. But still, Albus didn't know how to respond, so he decided to reply in the way his father taught him. By introducing himself.

"I'm Albus Severus Potter," Al tried smiling again. The man, obviously taken by surprise, sat back in his chair and a look of happiness flitted onto his lined face.

Then the hook-nosed, greasy-haired Headmaster smiled and, as the door to the Office opened and Al heard Professor Truman call out his name, the man said, "Hello, Albus Severus. My name is Severus Snape."

And, as Albus said goodbye to Professor Snape and went to meet Professor Truman, the look of wonder never left his face.


	8. The Headmaster

"Mr Potter," Truman's voice bought Albus back to earth and his nervous feelings returned. "Please sit," Truman gestured to the seat by the Headmaster's desk, and Al's knees were wobbly as he sat in it.

Truman had sandy blond hair that was ever-so-slightly peppered with grey and receded off his forehead ungracefully. He had a lined face, and looked to be maybe forty-five. He was very tall, far taller than Albus's dad, and had broad shoulders. Maybe the build of a beater, but not a teacher. His eyes were a warm grey, but he had several scars across his face and arms, and Al wanted to ask about them but his politeness stopped him.

"You must be wondering why you're here," Truman said, lacing his fingers together and smiling at Albus.

"Not really," Al said in a small voice. "Aren't I in trouble for breaking curfew heaps?" Al shrunk in his chair. Truman looked amused, his eyebrows rising.

"You really think you'd get sent to the Headmaster for being out of bed four times?" He rumbled, laughing a little.

"I thought it was a little... weird." Al admitted, his cheeks tinging a little pink. But Truman just laughed.

"No, Mr Potter. I admit I did have Filch send you to me next time he spoke to you, but the out-of-bed thing was just a cover up. I just wanted to talk to you." Truman moved the potion to the side and got out what looked like a list from the desk drawer, but Al was too confused to be bothered to make it out. Talk? Couldn't he just have found Al in the grounds of Hogwarts? Then it hit him.

President Truman must want to know about Harry Potter.

Al's expression darkened immediately. This wasn't the first time this has happened. People had come up to him and questioned himself, James and even little Lily about what Harry Potter did in his free time; was he ever angry? Sad? Depressed? Guilty? They asked and asked, but Al had just learnt not to answer. But he definitely felt betrayal towards Truman for even attempting to interrogate him. The list must be a list of questions for Albus about Harry Potter. He almost snapped at him, hut just when he opened his mouth, Truman spoke.

"How are you finding Hogwarts, Potter?" he asked, glancing up and smiling from his list. The accusing words died in Al's throat. He racked his brains. What did what he thought of Hogwarts have anything to do with his dad?

"It's fun," Al said shrewdly, trying to depict where Truman was going with this.

Truman waved his hand, quill poised over the parchment. "I'm going to need more than that, Potter." He said.

"I like it because it allows me to be an individual whilst belonging to something. And we learn cool things." Al barked dutifully, eyes still narrowed as he racked his brains.

"Excellent answer, Albus." Truman complemented, writing it down. "Now, is there any way you think the curriculum could be improved?" Truman raised one eyebrow and waited eagerly for Albus's answer.

"What?" Al said, dumbfounded.

"I mean," Truman was very patient, "Do you think there is any way possible for us as teachers to improve our teaching standards or courses?"

"What does that have to do with my dad?" Al asked, frowning deeper as he tried to interpret Truman's meanings.

"Huh?" It was Truman's turn to be surprised. "What about your dad? Is everything okay with Harry?" His questions were now intense, and he was leaning over the desk, getting closer to Al.

"No, no, everything's fine!" Al held up his hands in the universal surrender pose. "I just thought you'd be asking me questions about my dad, trying to get the 'famous children' point of view." Albus finished bitterly. Truman's eyes widened with understanding, and then he laughed loudly.

"No, no, no, no, little Potter," Albus cringed at the nickname "I was asking you questions about the _school_! I know Harry Potter! Why would I question his children?" he roared with laughter, causing the pictures on the walls to hiss at him, telling him to be quiet. He looked guiltily in their direction, and then back at Albus. "You see?"

Al was still confused, so he shook his head. Truman's eyes were kind as he explained. "This," he gestured to his sheet of parchment in front of him. "Is a list of questions I ask first year students annually to see if we can improve Hogwarts. I'm surprised your friends Miss Thomas, Miss Lindle and Mr Malfoy didn't tell you. I have seen all of them. After you I just have Miss Macmillan, Miss Weasley and Mr Creevy to go." Al was shocked but also instantly relieved. He smiled casually, leant back in his seat and said,

"That's awesome! So, what do you want to know?" Truman beamed back and copied the eleven-year-old's movements.

"Everything," he said.

Exams were upon them, causing Rose to worry, Poppy to become quiet, Verity to take her wand everywhere, Scorpius to stop laughing and for Al to get in the zone. The five were usually found in the library after their exams, working through notes and revising spells. During the day, they would be eating a half-hearted breakfast while Rose chanted all the facts for that day's exam, and then everyone would contribute when she asked questions. The weather outside was beautiful, which annoyed everyone stuck inside the castle, but made the end of the last exam, History of Magic, all the sweeter.

"Freedom!" Albus ran outside of the oak front doors, arms spread wide, Poppy skipping behind him, laughing and running in circles. Verity was doing some sort of jig, but tried to look calm, bobbing next to Rose and Scorpius who were deep in discussion about the exams. But Verity couldn't hold it in and ended up running to where Al and Poppy were taking off their shoes and socks so they could finally relax and dip their feet in the water. Scorpius and Rose eventually joined them, but sat on the bank of the lake until they had finished reviewing their questions and had to go catch Al and Verity because they had been throwing water at them the whole time they'd been sitting by the bank.

Even James came to join them after he had finished his exams, demonstrating his second-year skills and causing a wave of water to dominate all of the first-years and cause them to frantically haul themselves onto the shore because Poppy screamed that something had caught her ankle and giant squids were on everyone's minds.

To apologise James stole them all a picnic from the kitchen that they ate while watching the sun slowly sink behind the Forbidden Forest's trees. Poppy was looking accusingly at the piece of lakeweed that she had mistaken for a tentacle and was banished to under a shrubbery close by, and she was listening as James and Albus spoke of the upcoming Quidditch finals. This year it was Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor, so they were discussing the strong and weak points of both teams.

Scorpius and Verity were discussing the holidays and what they were planning to do. "I think my parents want to holiday in Italy or somewhere these holidays," Scorpius was telling Verity. She nodded, her mouth pulling down.

"I thought we were all meeting at Al's house over the summer?" She said. Scorpius smirked.

"Maybe I'll get dad to apparate back and drop me off," He laughed at the thought, and Verity laughed a little too. "What about you, Ver? You must be doing _something _besides meeting with these losers," and indignant 'hey!' came from Albus and James at the same time "On the holidays?" Scorpius finished coolly, hardly noticing that Al playfully punched him on the shoulder.

Rose was watching fourteen-year-old Louis and Roxanne Weasley run around the side of the lake, trying to tickle the giant squid's tentacles. Louis, though still young, had a flock of female admirers watching from behind books as he raced up and down the lake shore, laughing as brown-skinned Roxanne splashed him. She also saw fifteen-year-old Dominique and seventeen-year-old Victoire Weasley, who were in Ravenclaw with their brother, watching from amidst a big group of male supporters. Though she hadn't doubted Victoire's loyalty to Teddy this year, having seen and heard about the many guys she's turned down, Rose still found it funny to watch all the boys in seventh year drool over bold Victoire.

Dominique was no better. With her strawberry-blond hair, glittering blue eyes and availability, boys were sitting so close to her they were practically in her lap. But while she seemed to be basking in their affection, she didn't appear to be accepting any of it. She would laugh and smile at the attempts of flirtation, but would glare pointedly at a hand on her shoulder or a comment that was, Rose predicted, to roughish. It made her smile to see her cousin being so impossible. Dominique caught her eye across the lake and waved. Rose waved back, and then turned back to her friends and rescued Poppy from Al and James's Quidditch talk.


	9. The Quidditch Final

"This is it, team," Gregory Wood said, glancing furiously around at the Gryffindor Quidditch team. They were in the changing rooms getting their last prep talk for the year from Wood as they faced the finals.

"The biggest game of the year," Roxanne Weasley started in her best commentator voice, expressing that fact she had been on the team before. "And we know we're good enough to be here." Freya Summers snorted and Lachlen Unyt rolled his eyes. Marty Finch and Melissa Cartwright were too nervous to talk or even laugh, though. Wood shushed Roxanne by covering her mouth with his hand and continuing without missing a beat.

"The biggest game of the year, and we know, _everyone_ knows, we're good enough to be here." He said, throwing Roxanne a half smile at his changed words. She rolled her brown eyes and jerked out from beneath his hand, though she stayed silent, for Wood's sake. James fidgeted nervously in his scarlet Quidditch robes and gripped his broom.

"We have a superb seeker!" he gestured graciously to Lachlan who looked like he wanted to sink in his robes. "Two brilliant beaters!" he bowed to Roxanne and Marty, while the latter just waved at the team and Roxanne curtseyed in her robes. "Three cool- no, wait" he tried to think up an alliteration "Courageous? No. Comfortable?" even Lachlan laughed at that.

"Champion?" Melissa suggested. Wood clicked his fingers at her.

"Three _champion_ chasers!" he continued.

"And a kicking keeper!" Freya added, smiling. Everyone looked at her. "Well, you try finding a word that starts with 'k'" she said grudgingly. Wood smiled and said he appreciated the effort.

They walked on pitch to a tumultuous applause. The school had, of course, taken sides. James looked around and waved to the crowd. His stomach was swimming with butterflies and he was hoping his broomstick wouldn't tremble when he was riding it. He was already trembling enough.

"Shake hands, Captains," Mr. Prester said, and Wood and the Ravenclaw captain, Sean Rodriguez, shook hands. Sean eyed Wood shrewdly and Wood nodded at him, both captains seeming to have no facial expression aside from grimacing with nerves.

"Mount your brooms," the flying coach continued. James clipped his goggles on, swung his leg over his broomstick and hoped no one noticed the sheen of sweat on his face and upper lip. The heat and his billowing robes were not helping his anxiety.

Cries of the crowd filled the air as Mr. Prester blew his whistle. James kicked off the ground hard and streaked after the blue-clad chaser in front of him who had the Quaffel. The wind messed up his already unruly hair and he dove, rolling over in mid air to avoid the bludger Roxanne shot at the Ravenclaw chaser in front of him. He grabbed the falling Quaffel and as he sped past Roxanne he said "You're so lucky I dodged that, Roxy!" She grinned and flew off after another bludger, and James had to put on a spurt of speed as a Ravenclaw player closed in on his tail.

"And Potter passes it to Summers, and Summers dodges the bludger Ravenclaw beater Diggins sends her way and approaches the Ravenclaw keeper Morris." Says the official match commentator, Missy Smith from Slytherin House. "Nice switch there back to Potter, Potter shoots," the crowd held its breath. "But that's a nice save from the Ravenclaw Keeper," Cries from the Ravenclaw end filled the air.

James sped off past the Ravenclaw chaser again, gritting his teeth with disappointment and shame. But his broom wasn't fast enough, and the Ravenclaw chaser got past Wood.

"That's ten points to Ravenclaw!" Missy shrieked through the microphone over the tumultuous roar of the crowd. "Now Cartwright has the Quaffel, switch-passes it to Potter, Potter to Summers, Summers back to Potter, who decides to go for it, but-" there was a collective gasp from the crowd "Nice bludger work from the Ravenclaw beater Diggins again, and _ouch_ that looks painful!" James sagged on his broom, his shoulder aching fiercely, whilst his nose starting to bleed. He had been angularly flying when the bludger had hit him diagonally on the shoulder, causing his face to smash into his broomstick whilst dislocating his shoulder. But James still had the Quaffel and, as he stayed on his broom, he made a wild shot at the goal posts and, while the Ravenclaw keeper was too busy congratulating Diggins, scored Gryffindor's first point of the match.

The crowd erupted, and Missy says "And there's a sneaky goal from the youngest player on the pitch! Gryffindor's first goal of the match thanks to Potter brings the scores up to even! And now Captain Wood is calling time to patch up Potter,"

"Fantastic goal!" Wood said smartly to James, but James just grimaced and flopped his arm around a little, at the same time trying to stem the flow of blood from his nose. "Right," Wood said, gesturing for Miss Pomfry to come and help. Soon enough, the young patron had patched James up and he was ready to play. Just as he mounted, Albus came sprinting onto the pitch.

"You okay, James?" He panted. James' eyebrows lifted in surprise.

"Sure, Al, why wouldn't I be?" he ruffled Al's hair.

"You looked so in pain up there. But great goal anyway! And just wait till the end of the match; we have a huge surprise for you!" Al smiled at James, and before his big brother could reply or question him, the whistle blew and Albus ran off, back into the crowd.

After another hour of fierce playing, Gryffindor were winning by three points, making the score seventy to one hundred. Melissa Cartwright had scored four of the seven goals, Freya Summers had scored two and James still had just scored the one.

"And another spectacular save by the Gryffindor keeper!" Missy's voice was growing hoarse. "He passes it off to- Oh look at that!" Lachlan Unyt had just gone into a sharp dive, and the Ravenclaw seeker was right on his tail. Soon they were neck-and-neck, racing after the glittering ball that was the snitch. This was the eighth time the seekers had spotted the snitch this match, having lost it all other seven times. James reluctantly withdrew his eyes from the seekers and returned to the game, where Melissa had just scored another goal. He dodged an accurate bludger shot by Roxanne, and, with a sickening thud, it copped the Ravenclaw Chaser right in the chest. James caught the Quaffel and started for the Ravenclaw end, getting caught in the slipstream as he flew beside the racing seekers. Soon he was at the other end and he passed it to Freya, who passed it to Melissa, who feinted, passed it to James and finally, James scored the last goal for the match, because, right then, the Snitch had been caught.

As Missy gave the total score, James looked around, grinning and excited- they had won!- but his smile grew fixed as he saw Lachlan Unyt bury his face in his empty hands, and the cry of excitement died in his throat. He tuned his ears in just in time to hear: "And that's the score, guys! Gryffindor one hundred and ten, Ravenclaw two hundred and twenty! Congratulations to Ravenclaw, winners of this year's Quidditch cup!"

James sunk to the ground, feeling the tears of disappointment and shame burn in the back of his throat. He knelt there for a little while, until Melissa Cartwright came over, hauled him up and, together, they walked over to the rest of the team who were standing at the Gryffindor end of the pitch. The Ravenclaw's had hauled their Seeker onto their shoulders and were getting presented the Cup by Professor Truman, who was congratulating them elatedly through a magical megaphone, which the Ravenclaw Captain promptly grabbed and used to congratulate their opposing team.

"With a huge thanks to the Gryffindor Team for the best match of the year! Let's hear it for-" he broke off and a stunned look appeared on his face. And then he screamed into the megaphone. "Look! Look right here on the pitch! It's Harry Potter!"

James turned around just as his dad reached him, scooping the twelve-year-old up in his arms. Albus was at Harry's elbow cheering for the Gryffindors and Rose and Scorpius were arguing over something. Poppy was clapping and congratulating Lachlan Unyt and Verity was staring wide-eyed at Harry.

But Harry only had eyes for his son. They crinkled in the corners behind his glasses when he smiled at James who was still in his arms. "That was the best game of Quidditch I had ever seen, James." And then James didn't care if they had lost. His dad had come to watch his game!

"I didn't know you were here, dad," James said.

"That was the surprise!" Albus crowed from behind them. James grinned and hugged his dad, who eventually had to put him down, telling him that all the muscle he had was making him too heavy. Professor Truman finished his presentation of the cup to the Ravenclaws and then the school swept up to the castle to enjoy the rest of the day.

"So, dad, how come you got the day off work?" Albus asked his father as they sat under an old tree by the lake.

"There are a few benefits for being head of the office, Al," Harry answered, smiling. "Once I told them my son was playing in the Quidditch final they practically threw me out of there." He switched his warm gaze to his older son just as Rose and Scorpius walked up from the pitch.

"Hi, Uncle Harry!" Rose greeted.

"Hi Rose, and Mr Malfoy," Though his gaze was kind, Scorpius shifted his feet uncomfortably.

"Hello, sir." He mumbled, looking at his feet. "I have to go and... start packing." Scorpius added, and took off without looking back.

"Oh dear," Harry said concernedly.

"I'll get him," Al stood and strode off after Scorpius.

"Are they good friends?" Harry asked.

Rose noted the concerned expression seemed to deepen on her uncle's face as she answered, "The best."

"Yo Scorp!" Al called down the stone corridor, his footsteps echoing loudly as he caught up to his friend.

"Oh, hey Al," Scorpius smiled at him. "What're you doing here?"

"We don't leave for another three days! You don't need to start packing yet!" Al narrowed his green eyes.

"Oh, you know, all my stuff is probably strewn across the school; it will probably take me three days just to find all my socks-"

"Oh, shut it, Scorpius." Al snapped.

"Ooh, you used my full name, I'm in trouble." Scorpius sneered and tried to walk off, but Albus caught his arm.

"C'mon, Scorp," The green eyes were pleading now. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Scorpius snapped, jerking his arm from under Albus's fingers. He started storming away, but Albus was determined.

"Come on, Malfoy, tell me what's wrong!" Al started getting angry too now, walking quickly to keep up with the other boy.

"Nothing's wrong, I just have to start _packing_! Now leave me alone and go hang out with your daddy, Potter!" Scorpius snarled, quickening his pace. Al, having the shorter legs, was now keeping up some sort of demented trot to keep pace with his friend. His eyebrows were now so close together they were almost touching.

"So that's it, is it? It's my dad being here! Is that why you're angry, Malfoy?" Al growled, leaping in front of the blond boy to stop him from walking any further.

"Yeah, so what! Maybe it is! You father shouldn't be strutting round the school, you'll just follow in his footsteps, you're brother's already copying him-" Scorpius stopped, chest-to-chest with Albus, narrowing his icy-blue eyes dangerously.

"My father doesn't strut! And nor does James, so drop it Malfoy or I'll-" Al started

"Why is he even here then? He must love the attention to show up at Hogwarts where people just want to shine Saint Potter's shoes, for Dumbledore's sake!" Scorpius growled at Albus. Albus stood, shocked for a second, then took a step back and whipped out his wand, pointing it at Scorpius. Scorpius, taking one look at the wand pointed at him, took two steps backward and lifted his own wand, to point directly between the raven-haired boy's eyes.

"Do you know that James, Lily and I aren't allowed to eat chocolate frogs at home?" The black-haired boy started, his voice dangerously low. Scorpius was taken aback by the complete absurdity of this question. "Why, you ask?" Al continued, even though Scorpius hadn't even opened his mouth. "Because my dad feels embarrassed that he's on the cards, ranked with Dumbledore and Merlin and Circe. He doesn't _want_ to be famous, Malfoy. He was here today because dad didn't _have_ a childhood and he's making a damn good crack at giving his kids one. He was here to watch James play Quidditch. He's famous because someone killed his mom and dad." Albus glared at Scorpius, his eyes shining and his lower lip trembling. Scorpius just looked at Albus, his wand hand slowly lowering as a red blush stained his cheeks.

"Sorry," He murmured. Albus's eyes rolled.

"I don't think _sorry-_" Al started huffily, but Scorpius wasn't finished.

"It's just- I suppose I was jealous. I wish my dad would come to school for me. But I shouldn't have said those things. I guess- I guess I am a Malfoy, and a Slytherin." Scorpius finished, his wand now back in his pocket, his eyes on his feet.

Albus sighed and pocketed his wand. "It's okay, Scorpius. Just think before you yell next time. Be lucky it was me and not Rose you were yelling at, she would have bitten your head off." Al smiled at Scorpius, and the Malfoy looked so relieved it was almost painful.

"Now are you coming back outside, Malfoy, or do I have to make you?" Al joked, and like nothing had happened, the two Slytherins walked back out of the dark corridor and into the Great Hall.

"So you'd never had a chocolate frog until you came to the Hogwarts Express?" Scorpius asked incredulously. Albus laughed, just happy he had his best friend back.

"What do you think cousins are for?" He answered, as they both walked outside into the sunlight.


	10. Countdown

"This is _so_ awkward," Verity whispered to Poppy, who was focusing so hard on eating it was causing a crease between her eyebrows.

"I _know!_ I feel like I have to do everything right or people will laugh at me! Thank God it's dessert already." Poppy hurriedly whispered back, and then said very politely, "Would you like some apple pie, Mr Potter, sir?" And offered the plate.

Mr Potter, whose mouth was full of treacle tart when she offered, swallowed with difficulty and choked out, "No thank you, er, Poppy, right?" He smiled at her, and she blushed and put the pie plate back down. They were sitting at the Gryffindor table for dinner since, even though they were supposed to be at the Hufflepuff table tonight, Albus's dad was in Gryffindor when he was at school.

"So, Verity, is Dean well?" Mr Potter continued, now talking to Verity. Any other returnee to Hogwarts would be looking around in wonder, drinking in the sites (as well as the pumpkin juice) of the old school, seeing what's changed and what hasn't. But Mr Potter had come to Hogwarts too many times since he graduated to want to absorb the scenery. He had come back to put up the plaque with all the valiant heroes names on it behind the staff table, he had come to give a speech to a Seventh Year Defence Against the Dark Arts class and he had even spoken to the History of Magic class from time to time, to tell them of the Chamber of Secrets, the Room of Requirement (vaguely- he didn't say where it was or how to open it), of the Second Wizarding War and of Dark Wizards. And of course, Professor Truman and Hagrid invited him to tea twice a week and there were only so many times he could refuse.

"Oh, yes." Verity answered, ducking her head and focusing on her tart. "He'll be very pleased when he hears you came."

"I'll have to catch up with him soon, I think the last time I had a proper catch up with him was when you were... nine, was it?" Mr Potter thought it through, adjusting his glasses.

"Yep. It was when you told me about your Firebolt, and how it was the fastest racing broom out there for eight years after you got it. And you even let me ride it!" Verity's tawny eyes misted over as she reminisced. Poppy looked around at the others and saw they all knew what a 'Firebolt' was, so she pretended to know too, and nodded sincerely. To James, who was sitting on her other side, she quietly;

"What's a Firebolt?" James was too eager to join in his dad's conversation to give much of an answer.

"Broomstick," He muttered back as fast as he could, and then leaned forward into the conversation. Poppy sat back and crossed her arms, a bit annoyed that she had no proper interest in broomsticks.

"If you want," Rose said to Poppy, noticing the Hufflepuff's disgruntled expression "I could loan you a book my mother bought me called '_A Revised Quidditch Through the Ages_'. It's quite excellent and will definitely spark your interest in Quidditch, if you have any." Poppy smiled gracefully at Rose.

"That would be excellent. Could I borrow it over the holidays and return it to you when we meet up?" Poppy brushed her straight blond hair from her eyes, eagerly looking at Rose.

Rose bit her lip. She hated lending books out over extended periods of time. But then again, this was Poppy. "Okay," She agreed, bobbing her head in a nod. "Just don't... hurt it." Rose widened her brown eyes in worry. Poppy laughed and returned to her pie, assuring Rose she wouldn't.

Dessert was finished, and the group had wandered out into the Entrance Hall. Scorpius and Albus were standing together, as were Verity and Poppy and James and Rose. Mr Potter was waving bemusedly to some very over excited Hufflepuffs.

"Well, I best be off, guys," Mr Potter turned and spoke to the group. James acted nonchalant but Poppy saw his mouth turn down in the corners. Verity looked scandalised that her hero was leaving, but was assured by Albus that she would see him over the summer. Mr Potter gave very warm hugs to James, Al and Rose, shook hands with Scorpius and patted both Poppy and Verity on the shoulders. Just as he turned to leave, Professor Truman walked out of the Great Hall.

"Ah, leaving so soon, Harry?" Truman said.

"Gabe, you know how it is!" Mr Potter laughed. "Wife, child, own bed." He waved an airy hand.

"Actually, Harry, I need to speak to you about certain... events, which will need your consent for next year." Truman said, his mouth hardening and his warm demeanour disappearing, a business-like one replacing it.

"Oh," Mr Potter frowned. "Your office?" He suggested. Al saw his father's personality change from home to work. Mr Potter stood up straighter, his shoulder back, but Al saw his hand immediately go up, most likely unconsciously, and touch the old scar on his father's forehead. Truman noticed too and smiled sadly.

"Come," He led the way. Mr Potter waved to his little posse and they all waved back.

"I wonder what that's about..." James pretended to stroke a beard, and then laughed and started to guide Rose and Verity towards the staircase. "Away!" He chorused. The girls laughed and waved to Poppy, Albus and Scorpius, and then ran off after James as he hooted up to stairs. Poppy and the remaining boys drifted towards the chambers off the Entrance Hall that led to their Common Rooms. Poppy was soon hailed but some other First Year Hufflepuffs, so she smiled radiantly and waved to the boys, who smiled cheerily back and walked towards the dungeons.

They're trunks were packed, the Common Rooms cleaned and Spider the cat was cornered by three seventh years and put up a fight that the rest of the school said would be talking about for years until they finally got him back in his cage.

"So, who do you think won the Cup?" Verity asked, as they walked down to the Great Hall for their final breakfast of the year.

"We did," chorused Poppy, Rose, Scorpius and Albus in unison. They looked at each other competitively as they sat at the Hufflepuff table for breakfast and started to eat.

After breakfast they headed outside to a sunny corner of the grounds where Rose brought out her chess set, goading Scorpius who took up the challenge in an instant. Albus started reading a book and Verity and Poppy started talking about their exam results. Rose had, as expected, come top of the year and Scorpius and Albus had managed not to fail, which everyone thought was something to celebrate.

They went back inside for lunch, and then decided to visit Hagrid down in his house for a little while. When they arrived they found three hippogriff foals penned around the edge of the forest, and a small St Bernard puppy sniffing around the edge of the pumpkin patch.

"Hagrid?" Rose called, as Poppy squealed, ran over to the puppy and scooped him up. Verity and Scorpius went over and started investigating the hippogriffs. There was a chestnut with shining grey eyes, a bay that was sharpening its dark brown beak on a stone and a grey that fixed its beady yellow eye upon the First Years. Albus started calling for Hagrid too.

"They'll have ye fingers, they will," Hagrid boomed as he strode out from around the back of his hut, and Scorpius hastily withdrew his hand from the baby hippogriff pen. Verity smirked at him, but he just made a face at her.

"Hi, Hagrid," They chorused, Scorpius still eyeing the grey hippogriff accusingly. Hagrid invited them all inside, and they sat comfortably around his table. He poured them all some ice-cold dandelion wine, which they took one taste of then pushed away, and the puppy laid his head on Poppy's foot and started drooling on her shoe.

"So, last day already, is it?" Hagrid said, gazing fondly at them all. They had been down to visit him a lot this year, and even gave him advice on what to call his new puppy. Ten week old Bran was named after Bran the Bloodthirsty: a giant who had lived at the top of an enchanted beanstalk and was eventually slain by a boy named Jack. The puppy had been named because after their History of Magic exam, Rose had complained so much that she had not been able to use all her giant knowledge that Hagrid had offered to name his new dog after the fiercest giant she could think of that she didn't use in her exam.

"Don't worry, Hagrid, we'll be back next year!" Poppy smiled, and Hagrid stroked his greying beard.

"Y'know, when yehr parents were in their First Year," Hagrid turned to Albus, Rose and Scorpius, "Right at this momen', Harry woulda bin in the Hospital Wing, Hermione woulda bin studyin' for who knows what, Ron woulda bin playin' with Scabbers or chasin' those ruddy brothers of his around the castle and Draco woulda been sulkin' cos I didn' get sacked for raisin' a- well, let's just say tha' was his first attempt to get me sacked, eh?" Scorpius shrunk guiltily into his robes while Rose and Albus laughed.

"Why was Mr Potter in the Hospital Wing?" Poppy asked curiously.

"Ah, I'm not sure I'm the righ' person to tell ya that, kids." Hagrid was uncomfortable as all five of them looked at him curiously.

"What would my dad have been doing?" Verity asked, edging forward on her seat. If it were possible, Hagrid's uncomfortable look intensified, though it looked strange with the mixed feeling of relief as Verity changed the subject.

"Uh... he woulda... bin han'in' out with Seamus... at, er... the Lake. Yeah, round the Lake, they woulda bin." Verity's golden eyes narrowed, but her mouth turned up slightly at the corners.

"Of course," She said.

They told Hagrid they'd see him at the Feast and then wandered back up to the Lake. This time they just took off their socks and shoes and dipped their feet in the water, their blouses rolled up to the biceps. They sat for a moment in silence, gazing at the white marble tomb that shone in the last few rays of the summer sun.

"I don't want to go home," Scorpius said suddenly, breaking the silence. They looked at him, but he kept his eyes cast down onto the orange water. They heard a large whooping from the castle and saw Roxanne Weasley come tearing down the steps with Gregory Wood sprinting after her while she held his Quidditch gear in a pile over her head. They continued around the lake, until he caught her about half way round, took his gear, and promptly shoved the Weasley into the Lake.

"Well, that just ruined the moment," Scorpius concluded as the splash fight commenced between the two older students.

"Why don't you want to go?" Poppy asked him.

"Because I like it here. Here, I'm not alone and my parents want me to see my grandfather on these holidays, before we go to Italy." He pulled a face and put his chin on his knees.

"Well, summer won't last forever. We'll see you soon. And you'll be back here, studying, before you know it." Now it was Al's turn to make a face as he thought of studying.

"I suppose," said Scorpius, still looking gloomy. Roxanne was now out of the water, but soon dived in again, this time taking Gregory with her. Dominique Weasley and Bradley Longbottom now entered the grounds, followed shortly by Dominique's fan club, only to join the water fight as Roxanne hailed them over. Dominique's fans sat down and pretended not to watch her on the banks of the lake.

They watch the water fight escalate until finally Gregory escaped Roxanne and Dominique's clutches by dumping about half the lake on them with a clever spell, and then he half-dragged, half-carried Bradley out of the battlefield and the two boys sprinted away from the girls, drenched from head to toe.

"Don't sweat it Scorp, you'll be back before you know it. Second year will be great!" Rose said, and stood up to put her shoes and socks back on. "And we better get back inside. The sun has gone." The sky was the colour of indigo and in the east the stars were already dotting the sky, though the temperature hadn't gone down a degree.

They all went back into the hall and took places at their own house tables. Verity and Rose sat together next to James and his friends, as did Scorpius and Albus. Poppy took a seat next to the Fat Friar and some other First Years, with whom she started smiling and chatting with immediately.

"Students!" Professor Truman had stood, and the hall quieted in degrees, ending with a few dodgy whispers. "Another year, come to pass, and we must say goodbye to our friends. But before we get to the sad things, it is now time to announce the winner of this year's House Cup!" Truman smiled and waited for the new round of cheering to quieten down.

"In fourth place, on 248 points, is Hufflepuff!" Professor Truman called, grinning and waving a hand at his old house. The Hufflepuffs cheered enthusiastically. "In third place is Slytherin on 276 points!" The Slytherins gave a grumpy applause to themselves. "In second place is..." Truman paused. The whole school, including some of the teachers, groaned. Truman was looking gleefully at the piece of parchment that he was holding that, presumably, read the scores. "Wow!" He said happily, smiling at everyone. "These scores are only apart by two points! Isn't that cool?" He flapped the piece of parchment at them to emphasise his point.

When no one responded except with stony faces, he got the clue and continued to read.

"In second place, on a score of 306 points is Gryffindor!" Truman excitedly kept reading. "And that means that Ravenclaw win the House Cup with a score of 308! Congratulations!" The roaring in the hall was tremendous, and Truman picked up his wand and the decorations changed from purple to bronze and royal blue, with a picture of a soaring bronze eagle as the crest.

Verity shrugged and applauded along with most of her House, but Rose scowled over at the Ravenclaw table, only meeting her hands together a couple of times. Verity tsked and rolled her eyes, jabbing the flaming haired Weasley in the ribs with her elbow. Rose took the hint but it didn't make her any more enthusiastic as she stuck out her lower lip and pouted. Verity just ended up rolling her eyes and tucking into the food that had just appeared before them all.

"James, we don't have any more House Points left to lose," Verity snarled into her plate as another piece of sweet roll flew at her and Rose. "I have absolutely _no objections_ into jinxing your nose off if you continue," She finished her threat and narrowed her eyes at James, who had been flicking pieces of food at them for the entirety of their dinner from where he had been sitting a few seats up, and slowly pulled a piece of pastry from one of her braids.

James smirked at her then, and his friends made sarcastic _ooh_-ing noises to tell her how scared- or how stupid- they really were. Rose had just about had enough too. "James, quit it," She whined, brushing icing sugar off of her sleeve.

"Alright, alright," James subdued, but grinned and flicked one last piece of custardy bread at Verity, who snapped as it hit her square on the nose. Pulling out her wand, the dark-skinned First Year proceeded to point it right at James's suddenly scared face and narrowed her eyes.

"I warned you," she said in a low voice and then muttered what the eldest Potter presumed was a spell. James shut his eyes tight as preparation for the oncoming pain or disfiguration, whimpering slightly, but when nothing happened he opened his eyes slightly to see Verity had walked in front of him and was smiling. "Scared you!" She giggled, and James scoffed and rolled his eyes in attempted bravado. And then found a bowl of warm, thick, gooey custard being dumped on top his head from where Verity had enchanted it to float a few centimetres above his hair. Man, he had just about had enough of having food flung at him by first years this year.

"Gross, Thomas!" He yelled, shaking custard out of his eyes and thus flinging it everywhere and onto the other students in the near vicinity. The Great Hall was roaring in laughter, but the professors descended upon them soon enough.

"Verity Thomas!" Professor Shrup yelped, snatching her sleeve in case she tried to do something ridiculous like run away.

"Yes?" She smiled up at him and blinked her tawny coloured eyes.

"I- What- You-" Professor Truman gestured incredulously from Verity to James, who was still coated in the house elves' best custard, discretely sucking some off of his fingers and cheeks. Verity continued to smile at him, though not innocently, embracing the full brunt of what she did.

"I warned him," was all she said, and shrugged, as if to say _what can you do_. Professor Lampwick gave a snort of laughter which caused other teachers to glare at him, but he just shrugged, mirroring Verity. Shrup looked outraged, but he was waiting for Truman to make a decision.

"James Potter," Truman turned to the second year, "What do you have to say?"

James blinked at him through a layer of gluggy yellow goop. "I _say_ that I have custard all over me!" He shook his arms once, again flicking globs of dessert everywhere. Truman tutted and, with a wave of his wand, vanished the custard.

"And now?" The headmaster prompted.

James rolled his eyes at Verity, whose smile was starting to grow from humoured to devilish as she basked in the laughter still surrounding them. "I may have deserved _some_ of it," James hissed, looking pointedly at Verity. "But not a whole dish! Maybe, like, a spoonful!"

Verity did what she did best, and shrugged. "Point," She conceded, and looked back to the garrison of teachers. "Anything else?"

Professor Shrup was turning steadily purple as he glared daggers at the Gryffindor. Truman threw him a sidelong glance and then sighed.

"Apologise," He rolled his eyes like he didn't need to teach manners to a twelve year old, but he pointed from Verity to James all the same. Verity beamed angelically at the headmaster and turned smartly to James.

"I'm sorry, James," She held out her hands, palms up, to the second year. "Forgive me?" She implored, a little too sarcastically. But James just took it in his stride and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah," He huffed, and sat back down.

"Right, well," Truman clapped his big hands together and glanced at the surrounding students. "Crisis averted," He nodded and made his way back up to the staff table. Shrup practically threw Verity's sleeve down in disgust and stalked off after him, and Verity grimaced at Rose, who had only now stifled her laughter.

"I think I made an enemy," Verity said in undertone to Rose, who snorted. The other teachers dispersed, Lampwick with a casual 'see you next year,' to the duo, and soon enough, the feast was over and everyone was in their beds for their last sleep at Hogwarts for the school year.

"Shh, Spider, shh!" Rose whispered through the bars of her cat's wicker basket. She received a face full of yowling cat in return. "I'll let you out soon, I promise!" That only proceeded to make the cat cry louder, and Poppy looked very alarmed at the creature.

"Is he going to be okay?" She asked as Scorpius wound his way through the crowd to find an empty compartment before they all filled, Albus trailing dutifully after him.

"He'll be fine," Rose sighed and hefted the basket more securely in her grip. Poppy cast her a doubtful look but didn't say anything more (a miracle!) as she linked arms with Verity and dove into the fray to find where Albus and Scorpius had gotten too.

Once they'd settled into an empty compartment the boys had triumphantly claimed, they chatted a little before the train began moving and Rose could finally release Spider, who practically burst out of his prison to run around the seats a few times, making sure to bounce of everyone's laps at least once, and then settle in the bag rack, watchful green-gold eyes flickering.

The train ride went too fast, everyone felt. By the time there was neat little fields outside the windows everyone had changed, the windows were open to let a breeze whistle through the compartment and they'd pooled their money together to buy a truckload of candy from the trolley-man when he had passed, and made sure stuff their faces before they got to Kings Cross.

By the time the train was pulling through the city, everyone was excited to be going home (I mean, Hogwarts _was_ school, right?) except for maybe Rose and Scorpius, but both for different reasons. When the train stopped Rose had given up on trying to get Spider back into his cage (all five of them had bleeding cuts as a result of Poppy's cheerful idea of _teamwork_) and everyone was saying their goodbyes.

They tumbled out of the train together, each hugging and waving before running off to their parents. Albus saw Poppy's family for the first time, and got to witness the gasp of joy on Poppy's face as she saw the bump on her mother's stomach and reached out tentatively to caress her growing sibling. He saw Scorpius hug his mother tightly and swat playfully at his father, who had ruffled his hair, and finally, as Verity tugged on his sleeve, turned to see his own family, James included, waiting for him by a brick column. A man who could only be Verity's father waited with them.

"Dad!" Albus cried and flew at his father, who hugged him tightly back. "Dad, dad, you would not _believe_ Rose's ridiculous cat..." Albus began, and he told his father the story of the train ride home, and Harry listened to every word.

"Daddy!" Verity laughed and wound her hands around her father, who patted her hair in return. She stood on his feet and he danced ludicrously with her for a few seconds before releasing her so he could see his daughter.

"Hey, baby!" He greeted, and knelt down to her eye-level. She grinned at him and he patted her cheek in return. "You ready to go?"

"Yes! Lemme just-" Verity turned and threw her arms around Albus, who looked shocked at being interrupted by a hug in the middle of his story, but before he could react Verity was gone and tossing her arms around Rose, who laughed and hugged her back. When she had released her red-haired friend, Verity appraised James for a second before hugging him quickly, too, if anything to see the shock register on his face. And then she and her dad were saying their adieus and heading off into the summer heat with promises to meet up on a later date.

"Rosie!" Hugo slammed into Rose's stomach as he squeezed his skinny little arms around her.

"Hey, Hugh!" Rose gripped her brother in return, and then uncoupled herself to greet both her parents. She pleaded with her father to retrieve Spider from the train, and Ron returned minutes later, bleeding and stony faced, a squealing cat carried with him. They chatted on the way to the car, Spider transferred to Hermione's arms and Ron pushing the trunk trolley. Once everyone was buckled in, Rose looked up to meet her mother's eyes in the rear-view mirror.

"So, Rosie," Her mother started, smiling with perfect teeth. Rose grinned back and realised how excited she was for summer. Maybe studying _could _wait. Her mother laughed at her daughter's apparent excitement and continued.

"Tell us everything,"


End file.
